Russell Kirsch, inventor of the pixel, dies

Robert Kirsch was an unsung early (1957!) inventor of digital imaging techniques.

Digital imaging pioneer Russell Kirsch dies at 91 – TechCrunch

Thanks Glenn, I'd never heard of Robert Kirsch before this. It's good to remember and appreciate the the pioneering work that people like him that (probably unwittingly) brought such dramatic technical ad social change about. From what I read, he remained an active researcher until - and even after - his retirement.

I've found no references to any ''awards" or public recognition that he's geen given, though he was once a Nobel prize candidate. I often think that for some people (sadly), more widespread public recognition and appreciation of their work only happens when they die. I'm sure his pioneering and later work was valued by people working in the in the same field. So I doubt whether he missed 'public fame and fortune''. Still, it would have been good to publicly give him credit for the 'digital image revolution' while he was alive.

Anyway, the photography websites are now full of obituaries on Russel Kirsch.

Robert Kirsch was an unsung early (1957!) inventor of digital imaging techniques.

Digital imaging pioneer Russell Kirsch dies at 91 – TechCrunch

Kirsch's work at the National Bureau of Standards was also foundational for many, then-new, analytical methods in iconics and in archaeology.

My own efforts in analysis of graphics systems were strongly influenced by him back in the mid-1960s.

Here is one of Kirsch's important papers:

KIRSCH, RUSSELL A.

1964 Computer interpretation of English text and picture designs. IEEE Transactions on Electronic Computers EC-13(4):363-376.

One of his younger colleagues at the NBS applied the approach to cattle brands as a test case:

WATT, WILLIAM C.

1966 Morphology of the Nevada cattlebrands and their blazons, part one. National Bureau of Standards.

1967 Morphology of the Nevada cattlebrands and their blazons, part two. Pittsburgh: Department of Computer Science, Carnegie-Mellon University.

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