The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has presented this year's James A. Leitch Gold Medal Award to John Lowry, a pioneer in computer-based image processing for film restoration, at the Annual Honors and Awards ceremony held November 12 at the Hilton, New York. The ceremony took place during the 145th SMPTE Technical Conference and Exhibition taking place November 12-15, 2003.
John Lowry has been working with motion picture and television images for 52 years, with his primary focus being the design and development of digital image processing systems to improve the quality of motion picture images. Since 1998, Lowry has been at the forefront of computer-based image processing for film restoration with Lowry Digital Images, a company he founded, which has restored more than 70 major motion pictures. In 1971, he designed the Image Transform system that was used to cleanup and enhance the live television pictures from the moon during the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 lunar landings. In 1988, he developed one of the first multimedia CD-ROM projects, and helped pave the way for millions of children to learn to read using his CD-ROM software. Lowry holds numerous patents on motion image processing technology and is a Life Fellow of SMPTE.
The James Leitch Gold Medal Award, sponsored by Leitch Technology Corporation and named for the industry pioneer who founded the company in 1971, recognizes exceptional developments in software, equipment, systems, or the standardization of technology involved in the acquisition, processing, or distribution of sound and images related to motion imaging.
For information visit www.smpte.org.