Richard B. Merrill

Merrill earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Dartmouth College, and worked for National Semiconductor from 1980.

He invented the "vertical color filter"[2][3] technology of the Foveon X3 sensor that is at the heart of the novel digital cameras sold by Sigma Corporation (the SD9, SD10, SD14, DP1, DP2 and DP3).

[5] Merrill shared the Royal Photographic Society's Progress Medal in 2005 with Dick Lyon and Carver Mead for the development of the Foveon X3 technology.

[6] Shortly before his death in 2008, he received the Kosar Memorial Award, "for significant contributions to an unconventional photographic system," from the Society for Imaging Science and Technology.

"[8] Merrill explained his inventive process this way, "There's a lot you can get in this world just by looking for symmetry, looking for patterns;" and "Look for a technological trend in one area and apply it to another.