Jan
Jacobsen with his "Dual screen-front projection" for VistaVision format.
Image by Gerhard Fromm Collection
Mr. Jan Jacobsen, OSCAR-winning movie pioneer
and camera engineer died June 23, 1998 following cancer surgery in a
hospital in Augsburg, Germany. He was 81.
• Go to The Work of Jan Jacobsen
• Go to Jan Jacobsen - His Story
The name Jan Jacobsen was well known in the movie business for his expertise
with cameras, lenses, sound equipment, front projection equipment and other
pieces of film apparatus. In 1987 he was awarded a Special Photographic
Technical Achievement Academy Award. He was born in 1916 in Norway and his
career took him to Germany, Denmark, America, back to England and ultimately
to his final home in Germany. He built his first 9,5mm camera when he was
just 16 years of age.
The highlights of his career include the first IMAX camera, the front
projection Dual Screen system (for which he received his technical Academy
Award), a series of MCS 65mm cameras [M.C.S.-70
Superpanorama, -ed], the
UltraScope lenses, a 360 degree Swiss-O-Rama 65mm camera for a 360 degree
cinema, a very beautiful 65mm camera for MGM, and a series of 5 perf, 8 perf,
and 15 perf cameras in his beloved 65mm film format. During his later years
Jan Jacobsen led a quiet and modest life in his house outside Augsburg where
he kept himself busy in his small machine shop with new ideas and
inventions. He recently applied for a patent for his Flipping Focus system
and spent much of his time building cameras and lenses.
He is survived by his son Jan and his daughter Jeanette. Jan Jacobsen
developed many significant and important innovations for the movie industry.
The movies were his life and the industry has lost a brilliant engineer.
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Further in 70mm reading:
The Work of Jan Jacobsen
MCS-70
Superpanorama
Jan Jacobsen Story
MCS-70
Superpanorama films
The M.C.S.-70
Process and European Cinema of the 1960s
MCS 70
Superpanorama Films Adverts and posters
MCS 70 Field
Camera
Technirama
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