Thomas Knoll

Thomas Knoll is an American software engineer who created Adobe

Photoshop. He initiated the development of image processing routines in
1988. After Knoll created the first core routines, he showed them to his
brother, John Knoll, who worked at Industrial Light and Magic. 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.

Thomas Knoll was the lead developer until version CS4 (Creative Suit 4), and
currently contributes to work on the Camera Raw plug-in to process raw
images from cameras.

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.

John Knoll

John Knoll is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer
(CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). One of the original creators of Adobe
Photoshop (along with his brother, Thomas Knoll), he has also worked as
visual effects supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special
editions of the original trilogy. He also served as ILM’s visual effects
supervisor for Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, as well as
the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Along with Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and
Allen Hall, Knoll and the trio’s work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s
Chest earned them the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

In 2016 John (alongside with and his brother Thomas) were inducted
into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.