Science & invention
Thomas Knoll
born 1960 · software engineer
Creator of Adobe Photoshop, which he began writing in 1987 as a University of Michigan doctoral student in Ann Arbor, where he was born and raised.
- Born
Ann Arbor, Michigan
age 66- Detroit years
- 1960–1990s
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Knoll was born in Ann Arbor in 1960, grew up there and studied at the University of Michigan. In 1987, while working on a doctorate in computer vision, he wrote a small program on his Macintosh to show grayscale images on a monochrome screen. His brother John, who worked at George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic, saw its potential for film effects and pushed him to add features and a proper interface. The brothers licensed the program to Adobe in 1988, and it was released as Photoshop 1.0 in 1990; they sold Adobe full rights in 1995. Thomas remained lead developer through version CS4 and has since worked on Camera Raw, which processes the raw files of digital cameras. In 2019 the brothers received an Academy Award for Scientific and Engineering achievement for Photoshop.
Highlights
- Wrote the first version of Photoshop in Ann Arbor, 1987–1988
- Photoshop 1.0 released by Adobe in 1990
- Lead developer through Photoshop CS4; later led Camera Raw
- Academy Scientific and Engineering Award with brother John, 2019
- International Photography Hall of Fame, 2016
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1970s–1980s
University of Michigan
He studied here and wrote the first version of Photoshop while a doctoral student in computer vision.