Sherman Mills Fairchild (April 7, 1896 – March 28, 1971) was an American businessman and investor who founded over 70 companies, including Fairchild Aviation, Fairchild Industries, and Fairchild Camera and Instrument. Fairchild made significant contributions to the aviation industry and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1979. His Semiconductor Division of Fairchild Camera played a defining role in Silicon Valley. He held over 30 patents for products ranging from the silicon semiconductor to the 8-mm home sound motion-picture camera. Fairchild was responsible for inventing the first synchronized camera shutter and flash as well as developing technologies for aerial cameras that were later used on the Apollo Missions.
Early life and education
Born in Oneonta, New York, Sherman Fairchild was the only child of George Winthrop Fairchild (1854–1924) and Josephine Mills Sherman (1859–1924). His father was a Republican Congressman as well as a co-founder and the first Chairman of IBM. His mother was the daughter of William Sherman, of Davenport, Iowa. As an only child he inherited his father's multimillion-dollar estate after his father died on December 31, 1924. He also inherited his father's IBM stock, becoming IBM's largest individual stockholder until his death in 1971. Known to be a particularly bright and naturally inquisitive child, Fairchild matriculated at Harvard University in 1915 where, in his freshman year, he invented the first synchronized camera shutter and flash. During his college years he contracted tuberculosis and, under the advice of his physician, moved to Arizona to take advantage of the dry climate to aid in his recovery. While there, he enrolled at the University of Arizona, where he became increasingly interested in photography. He later transferred to Columbia University in New York and was enrolled in Columbia College from 1919 to 1920, according to the official registrar. Due to his ongoing medical problems, Fairchild did not earn a degree from any of these schools. Instead he pursued his desire to become an entrepreneur.
Aerial photography
In 1917, after being rejected from the military because of his poor health, Fairchild was determined to find another way to support the World War I effort. Fairchild and his father went to Washington and won a government contract to develop an improved aerial camera. The camera featured a shutter that was inside the lens, thereby reducing the significant image distortion caused by the slow shutter speeds that could not keep up with the movement of the plane. The U.S. government gave Fairchild a budget of $7,000; the project, however, ended up costing $40,000; his father paid the difference. Although the military did not accept his camera until the war was over, the U.S. government did purchase two cameras for training. Undeterred, Fairchild focused his attention on developing a more advanced camera, and in February 1920 he established the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation (predecessor of Fairchild Camera and Instrument). Shortly thereafter the U.S. Army ordered 20 additional Fairchild cameras and selected it as the standard for aerial cameras. The need for Fairchild's aerial cameras continued to grow; during World War II over 90% of all aerial cameras used by Allied Forces were of Fairchild design or manufacture.
Fairchild Aerial Surveys Fairchild wanted to expand the capabilities of his cameras for map making and aerial surveying. In 1921, he formed Fairchild Aerial Surveys and bought a surplus World War I Fokker D.VII biplane to take his aerial photographs. Shortly afterward, Fairchild landed a contract to make a photomap of Newark, New Jersey, which was the first aerial mapping of a major city. In 1923, Fairchild formed Fairchild Aerial Surveys of Canada, Limited after he was asked by the chief forester of the Laurentide Paper Company to perform aerial surveys of Canada. Back in the United States he made an aerial map of Manhattan Island which became a commercial success and was implemented by several New York businesses. Other cities began using aerial mapping, as they found it was faster and less expensive than the ground surveys of the time. Aerial photography proved to be a successful commercial venture. To accommodate this growing commercial demand for aerial surveys, Fairchild established Fairchild Aerial Surveys in the United States. Among Fairchild's aerial photographers during the 1920s was Edith Keating, one of the first female aerial photographers and later an advocate for the inclusion of women pilots in WWII. In 1965 Fairchild sold Fairchild Aerial Surveys to Aero Services, Inc., which decided to keep only the more recent photographs and dispose of the others. A former Fairchild employee learned of this plan and was able to get the older material to three Southern California Institutions, Whittier College, UCLA, and California State University at Northridge, where he knew professors who would put the material to good use. Whittier College closed access to the photographs in 2010, and in 2012 the collection was put up for sale. The University of California Santa Barbara acquired the collection in December, 2012.
Lunar photography
Fairchild Corporation developed the Fairchild Lunar Mapping Camera (also known as the Metric Camera) for NASA. The camera was carried on Apollo 15, 16, and 17 and took photos from lunar orbit throughout the missions. Over 7,000 frames were captured by the Lunar Mapping Cameras, covering approximately 20% of the lunar surface. These frames were used to produce topographic photo maps of the moon.
Airplane manufacturing
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