Program of Color Science/Munsell Color Science Laboratory
Program of Color Science
Munsell Color Science Laboratory
Overview
The Munsell Color Science Laboratory and the Program of Color Science unite to form one of the world‘s foremost color science research and education organizations. Our mission is to provide world-class education, research, and outreach in all areas of color science including:
- Physical spectral and colorimetric measurements of materials and light sources.
- Understanding the capture, processing, and display of color and spectral power distributions.
- Quantifying the human sensation of color matches and the higher-level perceptions of color appearance and chromatic adaptation.
These areas, and others, are studies from the perspectives of both fundamental scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and psychology and application areas including:
- Imaging Science
- Motion Picture Science
- Computer Science
- Computer Graphics
- Museum and Conservation Science
- Sustainability
Follow us on Instagram @rit_pocs_mcsl
Albert H. Munsell
Professor Munsell was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 6th, 1858 and died June 28th, 1918 at age 60. Author of A Color Notation (1905) and the Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915). Both an artist of distinction and a gifted teacher of art, he developed the first widely-accepted color order system to make the description of color accurate and convenient and to aid in the teaching of color. The Munsell color order system has gained international acceptance and has served as the foundation for other color order systems.
Albert Munsell founded the Munsell Color Company in 1917. Later, in 1942, the Munsell Color Foundation was formed by the company to promote the advancement of the science of color. Ultimately, the Munsell Color Foundation led to the founding of this laboratory, the Munsell Color Science Laboratory, in 1983, at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
About the Portrait
Unfortunately, no high-quality photo of Professor Munsell is available. In 1998, Munsell graduate student Doug Corbin restored the photo from Munsell's book, A Color Notation. The details of the procedure appeared in the February 1999 issue of Color Research and Application. Doug has provided the following information pertaining to this restoration:
The full text of the CR&A submission can be found here.
The LARGE uncorrected image can be found here. (21MB TIFF file)
The scientific diaries of Albert Munsell are available here.
For some other insights into the work of Professor Munsell, here is a self-published work form 1907 entitled, "Color and an Eye to Discern it." This was provided by Rolf Kuehni, who originally retrieved it from The Hagley Museum and Library.
Graduate Programs
The Master of Science and Ph.D. color science degrees explore all aspects of color, from lighting, through material properties, to human perception, and are closely associated with the Munsell Color Science Laboratory, which is considered one of the world’s top research facilities in the science of color.
Resources
The Munsell Color Science Laboratory has a long history of supporting the greater color science community through dissemination of our research. This includes publications, software, imaging databases, measurements, and more. At a fundamental level, these pages represent much of what we've done over the last 35+ years of research activities.
PoCS/MCSL Faculty
Program of Color Science
Extended Faculty
James Ferwerda, Imaging Science
Joe Geigel, Computer Science
Andrew Herbert, Psychology
David Long, Motion Picture Science
