John Burnside (inventor)


 * For the Scottish writer (born 1955), see John Burnside.

John Lyon Burnside III (November 2, 1916 – September 14, 2008) was the inventor of the teleidoscope, the darkfield kaleidoscope, and the Symmetricon. Because he rediscovered the math behind kaleidoscope optics, makers of optically correct kaleidoscopes sold in the United States paid him royalties for decades. Burnside was the life partner of Harry Hay from 1962 until Hay's death in 2002. Burnside was living in San Francisco, at the time of his death on September 14, 2008 from complications of brain cancer.

Early life
An only child born in Seattle, he was raised by his mother after his father abandoned the family; being poor, she periodically placed her son in the care of orphanages.

He served briefly in the United States Navy, and settled in Los Angeles in the 1940s.

Gay rights activism
Burnside and Hay formed the Circle of Loving Friends in 1965, a group that promoted gay rights and gay love. In May 1966 the two were part of one of the earliest gay protest actions: a 15-car motorcade through downtown Los Angeles protesting the military's exclusion of homosexuals. In 1967 the pair appeared as a gay couple on the Joe Pyne television show. Burnside and Hay helped plan the first gay pride parade in Alburquerque in 1977. In 1979 the pair, together with Don Kilhefner and Mitch Walker, founded the Radical Faeries.

Personal life
Burnside married Edith Sinclair in Los Angeles. The pair had no children. Burnside later met Harry Hay in 1962 at ONE Incorporated; the two fell in love and became life partners. Burnside died Sunday, September 14, 2008 at the age of 91. His ashes, mingled with those of his partner Harry Hay, were scattered in Nomenus Faerie Sanctuary, Wolf Creek, Oregon.

Published obituaries

 * [[Los Angeles Times] obituary]
 * [[Bay Area Reporter] obituary]
 * White Crane Blog
 * [[San Francisco Bay Times] obituary]
 * Gay City News obit
 * Queensland News obit