This past December 11th saw the passing, at age 84, of an
innovator of so-called “Virtual Reality,” Eric Mayorga Howlett.
Mr. Howlett was a life-long inventor and entrepreneur in the
area of optical and electronic engineering. His creation of the
Large Expanse Extra Perspective or “LEEP” system was a dramatic
development in optics, becoming popularly known as Virtual
Reality – though in engineering circles, it was more commonly
referred to as “Virtual Environment” – as it was essentially a
computer-simulated environment. The term is attributed to
polymath Jaron Lanier, co-founder of VPL Research - the first
company to sell Virtual Reality goggles and gloves and a pioneer
in 3-D computer graphics. Howlett, who grew up in Miami, was a
prodigy in mathematics and science. In 1944, during his senior
year in high school, he was selected in the Westinghouse (Now
Intel) Science Talent Search - one of only forty students in the
country to be so chosen. As a recipient of this award, he had
the opportunity to visit the