NORWALK, Conn., Oct. 21, 2008  -- Happy birthday to xerography. The invention (PDF, 1.6MB) that made it possible for people the world over to create and share information with trillions of copies and laser prints will be 70 years old tomorrow.

The first xerographic copy was made on Oct. 22, 1938, in a makeshift laboratory behind a beauty parlor in Astoria, Queens, a borough in New York City. The copy, preserved in the Smithsonian Institution, reads "10-22-38 ASTORIA." The inventor, Chester Carlson, was a scientist and patent attorney who was determined to find a simple way to make copies of documents.

Were he still alive, Carlson might well be surprised to learn his invention uncorked an information revolution that has continued to this day, making information readily available and expanding the world's total knowledge. Infotrends, an independent industry consultancy, estimates that 3.08 trillion copies and prints were made around the world this year on products fathered by Carlson's invention.

read more