Whatever Became of Holography

A generation ago, hologram exhibitions attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors in major cities around the world, and entrepreneurs confidently forecast applications in art, photography and television. As holography became more ubiquitous, however, it lost some of its luster for public audiences as well as for professional scientists and engineers. The field that had once represented futuristic progress gradually was recast as a fertile technique at the heart of modern science, and ongoing research today continues to pay dividends.