Wilson Markle
Appearance
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2009) |
Wilson Markle | |
---|---|
Born | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | September 2, 1938
Died | July 25, 2020 King, Ontario, Canada | (aged 81)
Occupation | Engineer |
Engineering career | |
Institutions | Colorization Inc. |
Significant advance | Film colorization |
Wilson Markle (September 2, 1938 – July 25, 2020) was a Canadian engineer who invented the film colorization process in 1970.[1] His first company, Image Transform, colored pictures from the Apollo space program to make a full-color television presentation for NASA.[1]
His method used computers to assign predetermined colors to shades of gray in each scene.
In 1983, he founded Colorization Inc., which was co-owned by Hal Roach Studios and International HRS Industries.[2] The word "colorization" later became a generic name.
Patents
[edit]An application for the first patent on the process was made by Colorization Inc. on 11 July 1983, listing Wilson Markle and Christopher Mitchell as inventors. It was issued on 1 December 1987 (US Patent 4710805).[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Coloring Old Movies: Foes See Red, Backers See Green - Chicago Tribune, 29 August 1986
- ^ COLORIZATION - The Museum of Broadcast Communications
- ^ US Patent 4710805 - Method of, and apparatus for, modifying luminance levels of a black and white video signal - WikiPatents, Inc.