Coined by Dennis Gabor from Greek holos 'whole' + gramma 'writing,' because a hologram records the complete light field.
A three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams from a laser or other coherent light source.
Coined by Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor from Greek holos 'whole, entire' + gramma 'thing written, drawing.' Gabor invented holography in 1947 to improve electron microscopy, choosing 'hologram' because the image records the 'whole' light field—both amplitude and phase. He won the Nobel Prize in 1971. Key roots: *solh₂- (Proto-Indo-European: "whole, complete"), *gerbʰ- (Proto-Indo-European: "to scratch, carve").