Luther George Simjian was born in Turkey on January 28, 1905, to Armenian parents. Until age nine he was raised in Ainteb (now known as Gaziantep) At about age seven his uncle brought a "magic lantern" from France - a kerosene lantern with glass slides which projected images. Luther decided to make himself one. He studied how light bent through the bottoms of glass bottles, and then made his own lenses from bottles with the right curvatures. He used a kerosene lamp and drew cartoons on the smoked glass. Even as a young child he had a very creative mind and was interested in optics and photography.
During the aftermath of World War I he was separated from his family. He fled to Beirut, then on to Marseille, and eventually to the United States. At age 15 he arrived in the U.S. alone, and went to New Haven, Connecticut, where some relatives lived. He quickly found a job with a photographer, and became self-sufficient. Soon he began work with the Yale University Medical School as a medical photographer. He was always looking for ways to do his job better.
In 1928 at age 23 he was appointed head of a new, up-to-date photographic laboratory of the Yale Medical School. During the next few years he developed many new photographic techniques for the school, including ways of projecting microscope images, of photographing specimens under water, and a method for taking colored X-rays.
By 1933 his reputation as an inventor was established. He resigned from Yale in 1934 and moved to New York. His first big commercial invention was the self-posing portrait camera, which would allow a subject to look into a mirror and see the same pose that the camera would take before the picture was taken. He established a company to license and manufacture the camera for use in department store studios. Simjian eventually sold the camera and rights to the Photoreflex name.
He renamed his company "Reflectone" and continued to explore developments in optics, electro-mechanical devices, and the new field of electronics. The name "Reflectone" was based on another of his inventions, a rotating boudoir chair with an attached, movable, mirror that reflected the user's image from every angle.
Simjian continued with his innovations, and developed the self-focusing camera, a flight speed indicator for airplanes, an automatic postage metering machine, the teleprompter, the Bankmatic automatic teller machine (ATM), and the other inventions. He was always interested in new problems and challenges and his mind was always inventing, but he was not interested in being involved in big business.
For Simjian, the most important invention of the era during World War II was his Range Estimation Trainer. He wanted to improve the methods used to train Allied pilots. Using a miniature airplane, synchronized moving mirrors, and controlled lighting, he designed a device that would allow an instructor to remotely vary speed, lighting, and angles. This simulator could be used to train aviators in identifying types of aircraft and determining their distance, their speed of movement and other related factors. The U.S. Navy was very interested in these devices; Reflectone sold more than 2000 trainers, which were used all over the country. Simjian became known as an expert in the visual aspects of flight training, and Reflectone became established as a major flight simulator company.
Simjian remained President and Chairman of Reflectone for 22 years, until he merged the company with Universal Match Corp. in 1961. He then built a small research and development lab of his own in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and continued inventing until his death on October 23, 1997.
Reflectone retained its name through several corporate acquisitions and a relocation from Connecticut to Tampa, Florida. It became a fully owned British Aerospace company. The UK division in Filton, Reflectone UK Ltd., named its building "Simjian House," in honor of Luther Simjian. In 1999 Reflectone was renamed BAE Systems. In 2000 the division was sold, and and became part of the Canadian company CAE.
Betsy King
17 November 1997, revised 2002
American National Biography: http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-02651.html
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