Origins of Google Earth Jeremy Norman’s HistoryofInformation.com Exploring the History of Information and Media through TimelineThe name "Keyhole" paid homage to the original KH reconnaissance satellites, also known as Corona satellites, which were operated by the U.S. between 1959 and 1972. Google acquired Keyhole in 2004, and Keyhole's Earth Viewer reached a wide public as Google Earth in 2005.
https://www.historyofinformation.com/de ... tryid=3145
Once I started Looking I found that Townsend's trail runs closely to many of the events that contributed to the US Space program and i post about that elsewhere. I also noted that three of his close friends and associates had some unique expertise in photography:
- Fenmore Johnson is considered a pioneer in underwater photography. He and Townsend met aboard Eldridge Johnson's yacht, The Caroline, on the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep Sea Expedition in 1933.
- W. Bradford Shank wrote the 1939 book on Filters and Their Uses. He would go on to work at Los Alamos during the war, partner with Townsend in his some of his post war activities, and advise Hollywood on films about the Atomic Bomb.
- Edward W.S. Hull, Townsend's "model maker" was the young USMC pilot who flew reconnaissance over Iwo Jima. He had a lifelong interest in photography and in oceanographic research. (He also wrote a couple of books that were published by the Oakridge Atomic Energy Agency).