Holographs were originally theorized in 1947 by scientist Dennis Gubar while trying to improve the electron microscope. It wasn't until the invention of the laser in the 1960s that true holographic images with three dimensional depths were possible.
Holographs are created using laser light to capture reflected light waves from an object onto light sensitive film or glass plates. When re-exposed to either a laser light, or, more commonly, normal incandescent light, they project a three dimensional image that has all the dimensional properties of the original object.
In 1968, the Cranbury Academy of Art in Michigan held the first holographic art exhibition. This was followed two years later by a second exhibition in the Finch College gallery in New York. Among the first artists to utilize holographs as an art form was Salvador Dali.
As of October 2010, the largest and most comprehensive collection of holograms can be found in the MIT museum located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition to historic holograms and representations of the technical applications of these pieces, the museum also contains works that demonstrate the possibilities of holograms in the future.