Not A Hologram

The word "hologram" is one of those often-bastardized word, much like "energy". However, while the latter is often used by pseudoscientists and crackpot alike, the former is often used in more "respectable" settings, but still wrong. This article highlights a number of instances where the objects that were claimed to be holograms, are in fact, not!

So it was a mild shocker when CNN claimed to have resurrected the "hologram," beaming its interview subjects across the country.

On Chicago's North Shore, where one of the leading experts in holograms lives, the whole business was more in a long series of frustrations.

"This is not a hologram," said Tung Jeong, a 76-year-old retired Lake Forest College physics instructor who now devotes his time to teaching holography. "Most of what media call a hologram usually is not. Something they don't understand, they call it a hologram. It's frustrating."

Another news article also put CNN to task with its false claim of having a holographic image.

Kreuzer said the images were tomograms, which are images that are captured from all sides, reconstructed by computers, then displayed on screen.

Holograms, on the other hand, are projected into space.

CNN officials could not be reached for comment.

Yeah, well, chalk that one for another example of media inaccuracy (or downright mistakes). We talked about this when the issue of "rate of speed" came up a while back.

Zz.