Making of ‘Milk Drop Coronet’ (by Harold Edgerton, 1957), 2016

The story behind the photograph…

Harold Edgerton (1903–1990), Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first became fascinated with stroboscopy during his postgraduate studies; he went on to pioneer high-speed photography and the use of electronic flash. In addition to his scientific work – he also developed side-scan sonar technology with Jacques Cousteau, and invented high-speed cameras for use by the US Atomic Energy Commission during atomic bomb tests – Edgerton was renowned for his aesthetic sensibility, and for creating images that revealed the beauty of the visual world beyond human perception. National Geographic magazine dubbed him ‘the man who makes time stand still’. Perhaps his best-known work is ‘Milk Drop Coronet’. Made in 1957, it is a very simple photograph – a milk drop striking a thin layer of milk on a flat surface – but it demonstrates one of photography’s compelling qualities as a medium: taking a humble, everyday moment and raising it to one of delicate yet dramatic beauty in a fraction of a second.