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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Henry Munsell | 4/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Henry_Munsell | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T16:46:17.052302+00:00 | kb-cron |
Along with his scientific intuition, Munsell's artistic background influenced his choice of the three different dimensions to describe color. This particularly applies to chroma. Before the Munsell color system existed, the term chroma also did not exist. However, the term saturation did exist among the art community. The saturation of a color described how pure and how bright a color was. Munsell saw this as being two different dimensions, and decided to break it up into two different dimensions, chroma and value. To support his new idea of chroma, Munsell consulted several scientists on how it should be properly defined. They all agreed that chroma was a new term. One of these scientists was Dr. House from Johns Hopkins University. Munsell met with him, and described how each dimension would define color. After explaining these dimensions, Dr. House noted that Munsell's three dimensional color theory would encompass all sensations of color, and is consistent with Herring's Opponent process theory. He also noted that "the physicist is busy with spectral hues, but the physiologist, like the painter, is busy with the sensation." This again shows how art and science rely on each other in the world of color. Munsell continued to gain support from other scientists for his new color space. He visited Harvard and MIT, and met with scientists such as Edward Charles Pickering. One collaborator, Professor Dolbear, exclaimed "(Munsell) may furnish a track across what is now a desert between practical and scientific color work."
== Munsell Color Company ==
The Munsell Color Company was established in 1917. The purpose of the company was to continue the lifelong passion of Munsell in establishing color standards using his color theory. After his death in June 1918, Munsell's son, Alexander Ector Orr Munsell, took over the company. Under Alexander's management, the company continued to improve the Munsell color system by improving the color scales in the Munsell Book of Color. However, in 1942, Alexander was forced to sell the company assets, and the Munsell Color Foundation was created. In 1983, the Foundation donated funds to Rochester Institute of Technology. This resulted in the creation of the Munsell Color Science Laboratory, which still exists today. In the laboratory, research and advances in the field of Color Science continue to be made. The Munsell Color Company is now owned by X-Rite, a company that works with color calibration. The main goals of the company reflect the ideals that Munsell adopted for his life, such as improving color communication, education, and service. X-Rite was purchased by Danaher Corporation in 2012.
== Patents == U.S. Patent 417,831. Artist's Easel. December 1889. U.S. Patent 640,792. Color-Sphere and Mount. January 1900. U.S. Patent 686,827. Photometer. 19 November 1901. U.S. Patent 717,596. Spinning-Top. 6 January 1903. U.S. Patent 824,374. Color Chart or Scale. June 1906.
== See also == CIE 1931 color space Photometer Colorimeter CIE Lab color space
== References ==
== External links ==
Works by Albert Henry Munsell at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Works by Albert Henry Munsell at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Albert Henry Munsell at the Internet Archive Albert Munsell was an alumnus and member of the faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design Munsell Color Science Laboratory Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine at Rochester Institute of Technology. Short biography of Professor Munsell A. H. Munsell Color Diary, 1899-1918. Scans of Munsell's diaries, showing his changing ideas about color. Munsell Color Products at the website of Munsell Color Company, now a division of X-Rite. A short biography at the Munsell products site Albert Munsell's crayons product line