A Utah engineering educator who helped develop 3-D movies, drive-in movie theater screens and Cinemascope died May 15, 1988.
Armin John Hill, 75, former dean of Brigham Young University's College of Engineering and Technology, was known for his movie-industry innovations and his work as a college administrator.As a staff physicist with the Hollywood-based Motion Picture Research Council in the 1950s, he helped pioneer 3-D photography, VistaVision and Cinemascope technology. He also helped develop special light bulbs and coatings for movie screens that permitted movies to be shown outdoors.
He was a prolific writer who published many articles in professional journals. For his writings about 3-D movie technology he received the National Best Paper Award from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
While in Hollywood, he helped in the production of several movies, including "The Ten Commandments," "No Business Like Show Business" and "The Robe."
He came to BYU in 1957 as the dean of the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences. With a change in the college structure in 1972, he became dean of the College of Engineering and Technology. He retired in 1977.
He had served on the board of the American Society of Engineering Education, was active in promoting relations with industry for that group and served on a Utah industry relocation commission.
He graduated from Montana State College in 1932 with a degree in electrical engineering and earned a master's there in 1938.
Later, he was graduated cum laude from California Institute of Technology with a master's degree and a doctorate in physics.
He was born June 7, 1912, in Riverdale, Idaho, to John Ensign and Ivy Blood Hill. He married Virginia A. Nelson, Aug. 25, 1933, in the Salt Lake Temple. She died Jan. 8, 1975. He married Erma Warren on Sept. 10, 1975, in Pasadena, Calif.
The funeral will be in Edgemont 9th Ward chapel, 4300 N. Canyon Road, Friday at 11 a.m. Friends may call on Thursday, 6-9 p.m., or Friday one hour before the funeral. Burial will be in East Lawn Cemetery, Provo.