On Gabor's contribution to image enhancement

Dennis Gabor is mainly known for the invention of optical holography and the introduction of the so-called Gabor functions in communications. A few people know that he was also interested in image processing. In a paper entitled “Information theory in electron microscopy” (Laboratory Investigation14(6), 801–807 (1965)), written in 1965, he examined the problem of image deblurring and was the first to suggest a method for edge enhancement based on principles widely accepted today and implemented in advanced image processing systems. In this paper his ideas are reviewed, their relation to contemporary methods is shown, and some simulations he could not do in 1965 are performed.