Student’s 1987 Code Fix Led to Photoshop Creation

Thomas Knoll did not plan to create a major image editor. In 1987, while studying for his PhD at the University of Michigan, he faced a problem. His Macintosh Plus showed images only in black and white, which made his research difficult. To fix this, he wrote a small program called Display. This program allowed the screen to show shades of gray. This simple utility helped develop Adobe Photoshop.

Photoshop was first sold on February 19, 1990. For over 35 years, it has changed photography, publishing, film, and web design. Thomas Knoll’s story, shared in a 2015 interview, makes us understand the software’s important history.

Thomas started coding in high school and enjoyed photography since he was eleven. His brother, John Knoll, worked in special effects and saw the potential of Thomas’s program. He urged Thomas to combine all his image tools into one application to save time. This led to making Photoshop.

Adobe recognized the software’s value quickly and launched Photoshop 1.0 for Mac in February 1990. However, at that time, consumer digital cameras and printers were not available. The software became popular when affordable tech arrived in the early 1990s. Adobe has expanded Photoshop to many platforms and donated the original code to a museum to preserve its history.

How much do you know?

In what year was Photoshop first sold?

1987

1990

1995

2000

What was the name of the small program that Thomas Knoll wrote to show shades of gray?

Display

Photoshop

Image Gray

Color Display

Who urged Thomas Knoll to combine all his image tools into one application?

John Knoll

Adobe

His professor

A friend

What was the primary purpose of developing the Display program?

To create Photoshop

To show shades of gray

To edit videos

To fix printers

Which platform did Photoshop 1.0 launch for?

Windows

Mac

Linux

Android

In which field has Photoshop significantly impacted?

Gaming

Architecture

Photography

All of the above

Thomas Knoll developed Photoshop before he began his PhD studies.

True False

Adobe Photoshop was first sold in 1990.

True False

Thomas Knoll's brother worked in special effects.

True False

Consumer digital cameras were widely available when Photoshop was launched.

True False

Photoshop has never been recognized by Adobe as a valuable software.

True False

Thomas Knoll started coding while he was in high school.

True False

Thomas Knoll faced a problem with his Macintosh Plus showing images only in black and white, so he wrote a small program called to fix this.

Photoshop was first sold on 19, 1990.

John Knoll urged Thomas to combine all his image tools into one to save time.

Adobe launched Photoshop 1.0 for Mac in February

Affordable technology arrived in the early , helping Photoshop become popular.

Adobe has donated the original code of Photoshop to a to preserve its history.

This question is required