A. H. (Albert Henry) Munsell

Born in Boston on January 6, 1858, Albert Henry Munsell was an American painter, art teacher, and the inventor of the Munsell color system. He studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, later joined its faculty, and was also known as a painter of seascapes and portraits.

Munsell developed his color system as a teaching aid, aiming to describe color in a way that was orderly and easy to understand. Instead of relying on vague color names, he organized color by hue, value, and chroma, creating a method that became widely used in art, design, education, and industry.

He died in Brookline, Massachusetts, on June 28, 1918, but his ideas endured. The system that bears his name remains one of his most lasting achievements, linking the eye of an artist with the precision of a scientist.