Mili, Gjon

Mili, Gjon

(1904–84) photographer; born in Kerce, Albania. He emigrated to the United States in 1923 and studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (B.S. 1927). He did research in lighting at Westinghouse Electric in Cambridge (1928–38) and worked on experiments in high-speed photography with Harold E. Edgerton at MIT. Mili would become best known for introducing the results of such advanced technological developments to the general public with his dramatic "stop-action" photographs. A free-lance photographer for Life and other magazines, from 1939 he lived in New York City, where his work was frequently exhibited. His many books and articles include The Magic of the Opera (1960) and Homage to Picasso (1967).