Wilson Markle

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Wilson Markle
Born(1938-09-02)September 2, 1938
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
DiedJuly 25, 2020(2020-07-25) (aged 81)
King, Ontario, Canada
OccupationEngineer
Engineering career
InstitutionsColorization Inc.
Significant advanceFilm 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]