{{short description|American software engineer}} {{Infobox person | name = Thomas Knoll | image = | image_size = 170px | caption = | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date and age|1960|4|14|mf=yes}} do not restore without a reliable source --> | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = University of Michigan | occupation = Software engineer | spouse = | children = | family = John Knoll | website = | footnotes = }} '''Thomas Knoll''' is an American software engineer who created Adobe Photoshop. He initiated the development of image processing routines in 1988.<ref name=stph>{{cite web |url=http://www.storyphoto.com/multimedia/multimedia_photoshop.html |title=From Darkroom to Desktop—How Photoshop Came to Light |date=2000-02-18 |accessdate=2010-02-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626182822/http://www.storyphoto.com/multimedia/multimedia_photoshop.html |archivedate=2007-06-26 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Knoll: Complete Biography, History, and Inventions | url=https://history-computer.com/thomas-knoll-complete-biography/ |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=History Computer | date=6 March 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> After Knoll created the first core routines, he showed them to his brother, John Knoll, who worked at Industrial Light and Magic.<ref name=stph/> John liked what he saw, suggested new features, and encouraged Tom to bundle them into a package with a graphical user interface. In 1988, John sold the distribution license for Photoshop to Adobe Systems and later on March 31, 1995, he sold the rights to the program to Adobe for $34.5 million.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Adobe Photoshop {{!}} software|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Adobe-Photoshop|access-date=2021-01-23|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=February 22, 1996|title=FORM 10-K|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796343/0000912057-96-002896.txt|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206145649/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796343/0000912057-96-002896.txt|archive-date=February 6, 2021|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}</ref>
Thomas Knoll was the lead developer until version CS4,<ref name=20years>{{cite web |url=http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/02/20-years-of-adobe-photoshop/ |title=20 Years of Adobe Photoshop |work=webdesignerdepot.com |date=2010-02-01 |accessdate=2010-02-19}}</ref> and currently contributes to work on the Camera Raw plug-in to process raw images from cameras.<ref name=20years/>
Knoll was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated from the University of Michigan.<ref name=UM>{{cite web |url=http://alumni.umich.edu/timeline/thomas-knoll/ |title=THOMAS KNOLL, 1982, MSE'84 |accessdate=2017-01-17}}</ref>
For 30 years, his last name titled that of an independent elementary school also located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The school, Summers-Knoll (SK), was founded by his wife, Ruth Knoll, in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Summers-Knoll | url=https://www.summers-knoll.org/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819113238/http://www.summers-knoll.org:80/ | access-date=2025-11-23 | archive-date=2000-08-19}}</ref> The name remained until its retirement at the end of the 2025-2026 school year when the school and its campus were officially acquired by Greenhills School.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Summers-Knoll School transitions to Greenhills Lower School|title=Growing Together |url=https://www.greenhillsschool.org/growing/ |website=Greenhills School |language=en}}</ref>
In 2016 Thomas and his brother John were inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Knoll |url=https://iphf.org/inductees/thomas-knoll/ |access-date=2022-07-24 |website=International Photography Hall of Fame |language=en-US}}</ref>
At the 2019 Oscars, Thomas and his brother John were awarded a Scientific and Engineering Award for the original architecture, design and development of Photoshop.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scientific & Technical Awards {{!}} 2019 |url=https://www.oscars.org/sci-tech/ceremonies/2019 |website=Oscars |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |accessdate=May 29, 2020 |language=en |date=February 9, 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoll, Thomas}} Category:Adobe Photoshop Category:Computer graphics professionals Category:Living people Category:American software engineers Category:Engineers from Ann Arbor, Michigan Category:University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
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