Search Results - Henry, Desmond Paul

Desmond Paul Henry

Desmond Paul Henry (1921–2004) was a Manchester University Lecturer and Reader in Philosophy (1949–82). He was one of the first British artists to experiment with machine-generated visual effects at the time of the emerging global computer art movement of the 1960s (The Cambridge Encyclopaedia 1990 p. 289; Levy 2006 pp. 178–180). During this period, Henry constructed a succession of three electro-mechanical drawing machines from modified bombsight analogue computers which were employed in World War II bombers to calculate the accurate release of bombs onto their targets (O'Hanrahan 2005). Henry's machine-generated effects resemble complex versions of the abstract, curvilinear graphics which accompany Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Henry's machine-generated effects may therefore also be said to represent early examples of computer graphics: "the making of line drawings with the aid of computers and drawing machines" (Franke 1971, p. 41).

During the 1970s Henry focused on developing his Cameraless Photography experiments. He went on to make a fourth and a fifth drawing machine in 1984 and 2002 respectively. These later machines however, were based on a mechanical pendulum design and not bombsight computers (O'Hanrahan 2005). Provided by Wikipedia