Joseph Williams Lovibond (17 November 1833 – 21 April 1918) was a British brewer who developed the world's first practical colorimeter as a means of ensuring the high quality of his beer.
After accidentally losing his earnings from gold mining as a teenager, Lovibond went to work in his family's brewery.
He discovered that coloration was a good index for assessing the quality of beer, and sought an accurate way of gauging colour.
After failed experiments with paint, on solids, a visit to Salisbury Cathedral in 1880 gave him the inspiration to use stained glass for his colorimeter, which he introduced in 1885.
[1] In 1885 he founded a company, The Tintometer Limited,[2] to manufacture his colorimeter which was called the Lovibond Comparator.