Emmett Leith, a scientist who took the concept of the hologram and added the technology of the laser to help create three-dimensional photography, died on Dec. 23 at a hospital in Ann Arbor , Mich. He was 78. The cause was an internal hemorrhage, said Kim Leith, his daughter. Holograms are commonplace today, and can be found on credit cards and children\'s stickers and have a broad range of industrial applications. But at the time Dr. Leith presented his advances to the scientific world, holography seemed to prove the newly minted epigram by Arthur C. Clarke that \"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.\" Dr. Leith was born in Detroit and received his degrees from Wayne State University . In addition to his daughter Kim, he is survived by his wife, June; another daughter, Pam Wilder of San Jose , Calif. ; and three grandchildren.