Dalton H. Pritchard

Biography

Dalton H. Pritchard received the 1977 IEEE Vladimir K. Zworykin Award for his contributions to the development of color television. Pritchard is regarded as one of the pioneers in this field of technology. He was born on September 1, 1921 in Crystal Springs, MS.

Pritchard attended Mississippi State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Electronics in 1943. Pritchard graduated in the midst of World War II, and decided to lend his support to the cause by joining the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He received radar training at Harvard and MIT, and served as captain in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. Pritchard received the Bronze Star Medal as a reward for his service.

In 1946, Pritchard joined the Technical Staff of RCA Laboratories in Riverhead, NY. His initial work focused on communications research. Four years later, Pritchard transferred to the Princeton branch of RCA. While here, his research dealt with the development of various areas of color television technologies such as receivers, transmitting encoders, cameras, magnetic recording, and color kinescopes. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, Pritchard helped to develop video processing circuitry, colorimetry and decoder matrix methods, information display and analog techniques, and Selectavision VideoDisk technology. He was also heavily involved in research that contributed to the development of high-definition television.

Pritchard held several prestigious memberships in distinguished organizations such as Fellowship of the IEEE, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and Sigma Xi, among numerous others. In addition to holding 54 patents, Pritchard was also an amateur radio operator. He died April 18, 2010 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.