William Novey (1948–1991) was an American special effects guru in Hollywood, Head of Special Effects at Walt Disney Imagineering in the 1970s, and co-founder of Art & Technology, Inc. with Disney executive Joe Garlington in the 1980s.
[1] At Disney, Novey was tasked with overseeing 6000 special effects in the Epcot Center near Orlando, Florida and Tokyo Disneyland.
[2] He invented over 300 projectors and helped inspire a new wave of special effects and technological innovations including the first use of holograms and vector-scanning laser projections in a theme park.
[3] At Art & Technology, Novey developed a number of memorable special effects and high-tech exhibits seen in various theme parks around the world, including the first ever motion-simulator in a museum.
Novey earned bachelor's degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, and a Master's in Theater Technology from California Institute of the Arts.