Helmholtz's Treatise on Physiological Optics Volume 1

Historical Significance: Herman von Helmholtz (1821 - 1894) is a towering figure in vision science. He qualified in medicine at the Berlin Medical Institute in1843 and began researching while on military service as a physician in Potsdam. By 1858 he was Professor of Anatomy & Physiology in Bonn and after professorial appointments in Konigsberg & Heildelberg became Professor of Physics in Berlin in 1871. He is best known for his work on mathematical physics and acoustics but he is also the father of vision science. See cat No 85 and 86 for vols 2 and 3. James P. C. Southall (1871- ?) was a physicist with a special interest in optics. He taught physics at a number of USA universities before joining Columbia University in 1914, where he served until his retirement in 1940. His specialties were geometrical optics and physiological optics. He wrote Principles of Geometrical Optics in 1910 and Mirrors, Prisms and Lenses (1918, rev. eds. 1923, 1934). He is probably best known as editor of the American English language edition of Helmholtz's Physiological Optics published in 3 volumes 1924-25. Cat No 84. 85, 86. He also wrote Introduction to Physiological Optics (1941). He wrote many papers, a number of which appeared in JOSA, on optical illusions and geometrical optics. He served as president of the Optical Society of America in 1921.