Christine Ladd-Franklin
American logician and psychologist known for a theory of colour vision
American logician and psychologist who completed Johns Hopkins doctoral requirements in 1882 but received the degree only in 1926, and who presented an evolutionary theory of colour vision in London in 1892.
Why this person matters
Ladd-Franklin offered a colour theory that drew on both Helmholtz's and Hering's accounts. Her career also shows how women were excluded: Johns Hopkins withheld her degree for decades, she taught without faculty status and she was kept out of Titchener's Experimentalists.
Main contributions
Colour vision theory
In 1892 she presented in London an evolutionary theory of colour vision with three stages, black-white vision being the most primitive. It combined elements of the Helmholtz and Hering theories, and she introduced it to American readers in Science in 1893. Colour and Colour Theories appeared in 1929.
Logic and the antilogism
Her thesis 'The Algebra of Logic' was published in 1883 in Studies in Logic by Members of the Johns Hopkins University, edited by Charles Sanders Peirce, whose courses had shaped it. Her later work developed the antilogism, a set of three statements that are together incompatible, used to test syllogisms.
Teaching without status
She lectured at Johns Hopkins from 1904 to 1909, then at Columbia for years without pay or faculty status. She also repeatedly challenged Titchener's refusal to admit women to his Experimentalists.
Context and limits
James Joseph Sylvester secured her admission to Johns Hopkins in 1878 on condition that she attend only his lectures, and later arranged a yearly payment for 1879 to 1882 without the title of fellow. In 1914 Titchener allowed her to attend one session of the Experimentalists, but she was not invited back. Women were admitted to the group only after his death.
In your introductory course
Sensation and perception.Appears in sensation and perception when colour vision theories are compared, and in the history chapter on women in psychology.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 5.1. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1882
Completed the requirements for a Johns Hopkins doctorate in logic but was denied the degree because she was a woman.
- 1883
Published 'The Algebra of Logic' in Studies in Logic, edited by Peirce.
- 1892
Presented her theory of colour vision at the International Congress of Experimental Psychology in London.
- 1926
Received her Johns Hopkins PhD, at the age of 78.
- 1929
Published Colour and Colour Theories.
Sources
- MacTutor History of Mathematics (University of St Andrews), Christine Ladd-FranklinUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- Psychology's Feminist Voices, Christine Ladd-FranklinSociety or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- Encyclopedia.com, Christine Ladd-FranklinReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Christine Ladd-FranklinReference work. Reference article inspected.