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A. Michael Noll Collection [preliminary description] (1956 - 2006)
RepositoryHuntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens [preliminary]
Collection IDmssNoll collection
Size5 boxes and 2 folders
Collection Description
A. Michael Noll (1939 - ) is an American engineer who was born and raised in Newark. He holds a B.S.E.E. degree from the Newark College of Engineering (now New Jersey Institute of Technology), an M.E.E. from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. A professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, Noll was an early pioneer in digital and 3D art, proposing that the digital computer could be a creative artistic medium. He worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey studying three-dimensional computer graphics and animation as well as human-machine communication and speech signal processing and became one of the first researchers to use a computer to create artistic patterns. In 1965, his work was exhibited at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York City; it was ultimately used in many articles and books. Noll has published more than ninety professional papers, was granted six patents, and is the author of ten books. He has also been a reviewer of classical music performances for the Classical New Jersey Society Journal.
Collection Contents
The collection is composed primarily of published and typewritten articles by Dr. Noll, J. R. Pierce, and other authors. It also contains correspondence between Dr. Noll and J. R. Pierce as well as W. O. Baker. Several noteworthy items include the earliest piece of Dr. Noll's artwork and a letter from J. R. Pierce to Richard Nixon. Letters to and from Arthur C. Clarke, discussing Clarke's forthcoming books, are also included, and a typewritten article by J. R. Pierce provides technical counsel for the film "2001: A Space Odyssey." The majority of items in the collection are arranged alphabetically by author. NOTE: An unpublished finding aid is available at the repository.
FormatsGraphics; Textual materials
SubjectsApplied Arts; Science / Invention
Time Periods20th Century; 21st Century
LanguageEnglish
Access policyOpen for research