William Albert Hugh Rushton
William Albert Hugh Rushton (born December 8, 1901 , † June 21, 1980 ) was Professor of Physiology at Trinity College (Cambridge) . His main interest was color perception ; its principle of univariance is important in sensory physiology .
In 1948 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society . In 1963, Rushton was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1970 he was President of the Society for Psychical Research . In the same year he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.
Principle of univariance
The excitation of a visual cell depends only on whether it has captured a photon or not. This can be done with different combinations of wavelength and intensity (see absorption spectrum ). So the brain does not know what color the corresponding point in the retinal image is. (Ie if a photon is absorbed by a visual cell (cone), the information about its wavelength is lost.)
Web links
- Pigments and signals in color vision. In: The Journal of Physiology (1972) PMC 1331666 (free full text)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter R. (PDF; 508 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved January 7, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rushton, William Albert Hugh |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British physiologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 8, 1901 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 21, 1980 |