Itek Corporation

Itek Corporation was a US corporation specializing in microfilm retrieval systems and high-altitude cameras, 1957-1983.

ITEK (for Information Technology Lab) was founded by Richard Leghorn in 1957, initially to market Kodak's secret Minicard system. It also considered building a language machine to compete with IBM's, expecting that IBM would leave that application.

In the early 1960s ITEK worked on the Minicard and its photo-storage capacities, but it eventually turned its focus on to manufacturing camera systems for the Corona satellite program.

In 1983 ITEK was acquired by Litton Industries.

Persons involved included John W. Kuipers, Ben-Ami Lipetz and Herbert M. Ohlman

Further reading

On ITEK:

• Air Force Space Command. (2006). Colonel Richard S. Leghorn. Retrieved September 14, 2023, from https://www.afspc.af.mil/Portals/3/documents/Pioneers/AFD-100405-040.pdf
• Litton Indus. v. Lehman Bros. Kuhn Loeb. Inc. 967 F.2d 742 (1992). https://casetext.com/case/

On its microfilm retrieval system work:

• Burke, Colin B, America's information wars: The untold story of information systems in America's conflicts and politics from World War II to the intenet age. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.