Leopold Mannes' passion for photography led to his work creating Kodachrome, the first practical color film.

Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, Jr. met as teenagers. Both were fascinated by the popular Brownie cameras, and both longed for a way to take color photographs, experimenting with the process.

Mannes went on to study music at Harvard and earned a Pulitzer and a Guggenheim fellowship for composition. But even after he and Godowsky became musicians, they continued their photographic collaboration. Their search for financial support led them to Eastman Kodak, where they were hired and assigned a team of researchers. While working in darkness, Godowsky and Mannes measured film developing times by whistling the last movement of Brahms' C-minor Symphony.

In 1936, Kodachrome film was introduced. The availability of a robust, practical color film triggered a cultural, artistic and commercial revolution as amateur and professional photographers embraced the new technology which was used for both still and motion picture photography.

Mannes remained in music after inventing Kodachrome, performing as a pianist and composing several musical scores. He served as president of the Mannes College of Music founded by his parents, and he served as a judge in music competitions, including the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Born in New York City, he studied music at Juilliard and Harvard.

Matthias Baldwin
C. Donald Bateman
Clarence Birdseye
Leopold Godowsky, Jr.
Robert Gundlach
Alec Jeffreys
Dean Kamen
Leopold Mannes
Garrett Augustus Morgan
Les Paul
Jacob Rabinow
Glenn T. Seaborg
Leo Henryk Sternbach
Selman Waksman