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Paul Linden leans over his laser optical bench as laser beams cross in front of him, photographed for a 1997 Kansas Alumni magazine profile of his laser video projection work.

The Paul Linden Archive

Paul Linden

Inventor Entertainment Technology Pioneer Optical Engineer

Paul Linden spent his career imagining new ways for people to experience entertainment — from ShowBiz Pizza’s groundbreaking multimedia shows to inventing patented large-format laser projection systems.

Explore His Story Explore His Work

Paul Linden at his optical bench. Kansas Alumni magazine, 1997 · photograph by Wally Emerson.

A life of invention and impact

For more than four decades, Paul combined engineering, creativity, and a passion for storytelling.

Paul Linden spent his career at the intersection of technology and spectacle — building experiences that had not existed before.

His work moved from operating and servicing amusement equipment while attending college, to helping lead entertainment development at ShowBiz Pizza Place, to pioneering large-format video projection systems that used lasers as their light sources.

Through Armour Amusement, ShowBiz Pizza Place, Advanced Laser Projection, and Linden Laser Systems, Paul's ideas reached millions of people — often behind the scenes, but consistently at the frontier of what was possible.

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Chapters in a career

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A teenage Paul Linden in a school blazer stands beside his 1968 science-fair project, "Underwater Cities: Homes of the Future."

01

Early Curiosity & Armour Amusement

1968–1980

Long before the lasers, there was a teenager building the future of underwater cities and a college student learning how entertainment technology actually behaves once it leaves the lab.

02

ShowBiz Pizza Place & Multimedia Entertainment

1980–1990

As Director of Entertainment, Paul helped shape one of the most ambitious location-based entertainment experiences of its era — synchronising audio, video, lighting, and animatronics into a single show.
A dense optical bench of mirrors, lenses, and acousto-optic modulators from one of Paul Linden's laser projection systems.

03

Advanced Laser Projection

1988–1996

The center of Paul's invention story: using lasers as the light source for large-format video projection, and the patents that came out of it.
Sweeping ribbons of red, green, and blue laser light — a lumia composition made with Paul Linden's laser systems.

04

Linden Laser Systems & Beyond

1996–present

Paul's own company — where the laser projection, optics, holography, and show work continued as custom design, installation, and show labor for clients around the world.

Featured ShowBiz story

Yogi Bear Comes to Life

An animatronic character conversion Paul worked on at ShowBiz Pizza Place with costume-support manager Jul Kamen, with test installations reportedly in Omaha, Colorado Springs, and Augusta.

With Jul Kamen

Read the story → Community history

Featured invention

Laser Projection Apparatus

A way to build a large, full-color video image out of red, green, and blue laser light — combining and balancing the beams through an optical system so the projected picture is bright, sharp, and correctly colored.

U.S. Patent US 5,136,426 · Advanced Laser Projection

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A career in milestones

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  1. 1968

    "Underwater Cities: Homes of the Future"

    Independent

    As a high-school student, Paul builds an ambitious International Science Fair project imagining how people might live beneath the sea.

    Probable

  2. 1974

    Experiments in holography at the University of Kansas

    University of Kansas

    The Sioux City Journal documents Paul and fellow KU senior Barney Wages making holograms — "laser-beam photography" — his earliest known work with lasers.

    Documented

  3. 1980s

    Director of Entertainment, ShowBiz Pizza Place

    ShowBiz Pizza Place

    Paul directs entertainment technology and programming at ShowBiz — audio, video, LaserDisc, lighting, and animatronics — and works on Cyberstar and the Yogi Bear test shows.

    Community history

  4. 1992

    U.S. Patent 5,136,426 — Laser Projection Apparatus

    Advanced Laser Projection

    Paul's foundational laser projection patent, with Richard Pease, is issued — on the birthday of his wife, Elaine.

    Documented

  5. 1994

    U.S. Patent 5,365,288 — Image Mover

    Advanced Laser Projection

    A second patent, with Lloyd Cross and Duane Dewald, for an optical system that moves and repositions a projected image.

    Documented

  6. 1996

    Linden Laser Systems

    Linden Laser Systems

    Paul continues and commercializes his work — the ProFX and Taurus imagers, the Stingray II projector, holography, and custom installations for clients worldwide.

    Documented

From the archive

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A teenage Paul Linden in a school blazer stands beside a science-fair display and apparatus titled "Underwater Cities: Homes of the Future."

photograph · 1968

Science-fair project: "Underwater Cities: Homes of the Future"
A 1974 Sioux City Journal clipping headlined "Holography Explored as Art Medium," showing two young men adjusting an optical setup to make a hologram.

press · August 28, 1974

"Holography Explored as Art Medium"
Flowing ribbons of red, green, and blue laser light forming an abstract lumia composition.

photograph · undated

Lumia composition in red, green, and blue
A 1997 Kansas Alumni magazine profile of Paul Linden headlined "Linden’s Lasers Project Unique Images," with a photograph of Paul at his laser bench.

press · 1997

"Linden’s Lasers Project Unique Images"
A very large projected image of a red Acura NSX cast on a wall by a laser projector, with a person standing at its base for scale, above a photo of the ProFX imager unit.

installation · early 1990s

ProFX imager projecting an automobile at large scale
Paul Linden leans over his laser optical bench as laser beams cross in front of him, in a 1997 Kansas Alumni magazine photograph.

photograph · 1997

Paul Linden at his optical bench