![Adelbert Ames b1880](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Adelbert_Ames_b1880.jpg)
Adelbert Ames Jr. (August 19, 1880 – July 3, 1955) was an American scientist who made contributions to
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
,
physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
,
ophthalmology
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...
,
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
. He pioneered the study of physiological optics at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
, serving as a research professor, then as director of research at the Dartmouth Eye Institute. He conducted important research into aspects of
binocular vision
In biology, binocular vision is a type of vision in which an animal has two eyes capable of facing the same direction to perceive a single three-dimensional image of its surroundings. Binocular vision does not typically refer to vision where an ...
, including
cyclophoria
Cyclotropia is a form of strabismus in which, compared to the correct positioning of the eyes, there is a torsion of one eye (or both) about the eye's visual axis. Consequently, the visual fields of the two eyes appear tilted relative to each o ...
and
aniseikonia
Aniseikonia is an ocular condition where there is a significant difference in the perceived size of images. It can occur as an overall difference between the two eyes, or as a difference in a particular meridian. If the ocular image size in both e ...
. Ames is perhaps best known for constructing
illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people.
Illusions may o ...
s of
visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the visible spectrum reflecte ...
, most notably the
Ames room
An Ames room is a distorted room that creates an optical illusion. Likely influenced by the writings of Hermann Helmholtz, it was invented by American scientist Adelbert Ames Jr. in 1946, and constructed in the following year.
Usage and effect ...
and the
Ames window
Ames window
The Ames trapezoid or Ames window is an image on, for example, a flat piece of cardboard that seems to be a rectangular window but is, in fact, a trapezoid. Both sides of the piece of cardboard have the same image. The cardboard is h ...
. He was a leading light in the Transactionalist School of psychology and also made contributions to
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
.
Formative years
Adelbert Ames Jr. was born on August 19, 1880, in
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
. His father,
Adelbert Ames
Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 13, 1933) was an American sailor, soldier, and politician who served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War. A Radical Republican, he was military governor, U.S. Senato ...
, was a general in the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
and
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
and
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
from
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
; his mother,
Blanche Butler Ames
Blanche Butler Ames (March 2, 1847 – December 26, 1939) was the wife of Adelbert Ames, a decorated general of the American Civil War and Senator and Governor of Mississippi during Reconstruction.
Blanche Butler was born in Lowell, Massachusett ...
, was the daughter of U.S. general
Benjamin F. Butler, a controversial military leader, politician, and unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. presidency. Apart from his military and administrative service, General Ames obtained several U.S. patents for pencil sharpeners and other mechanical devices. Ames' sister
Blanche Ames Ames
Blanche Ames Ames (February 18, 1878 – March 2, 1969) was an American artist, political activist, inventor, writer, and prominent supporter of women's suffrage and birth control.
Personal life
Born Blanche Ames in Lowell, Massachusetts, Am ...
was a woman's rights
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, and his brother
Butler Ames
Butler Ames (August 22, 1871 – November 6, 1954) was an American politician, engineer, soldier and businessman. He was the son of Adelbert Ames and grandson of Benjamin Butler (politician), Benjamin Franklin Butler, both decorated generals in ...
was a politician and Army officer during the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
. His son, Adelbert Ames III (1921–2018), was the Charles Anthony Pappas Professor of Neuroscience, Emeritus,
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. In research papers, Adelbert Ames Jr. is commonly cited as Adelbert Ames II, to prevent his being confused with his father or his son.
Ames attended
Philips Academy
("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness
, address = 180 Main Street
, city = Andover, Massachusetts, Andover
, stat ...
,
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...
, then went to
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, where he earned a law degree, and where his most influential teachers were
George Santayana
Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known in English as George Santayana (; December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952), was a Spanish and US-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised ...
and
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
(whose daughter he was also engaged to, but did not marry). After practicing law for a few years, Ames abandoned it to become a painter. For several years, while collaborating with his sister, Blanche Ames (who was also a painter), the two of them tried to determine if the quality of visual art could be improved by the scientific study of vision. Ames set about improving his knowledge of the
optical components
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...
of the eye, assuming that once he had mastered them, he would return to painting. As it was, his studies mastered him and Ames made vision his life's work.
Ames went to
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...
in 1914 to study physiological optics, making enough of an impression to be made one of the eighteen founding members of the
Optical Society of America
Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...
in 1916. When the U.S. entered
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1917, he served briefly as a captain in the aviation service, then as the overseer of a machine shop in which prototypes for instruments were developed. While in the army he continued his studies of optics, in part because one of the soldiers in that shop (with whom he became a friend and collaborator) was Charles Proctor, professor of physics at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
.
Dartmouth College
After the war, Ames went to Dartmouth College in 1919 to work with Proctor. They decided to construct a large-scale model of the human eye using glass for its various layers, humors, and lens. In 1921, this work led to Ames' first published scientific paper, the award of an honorary Master of Arts degree, and his election as professor of research in a new department of Physiological Optics.
In 1923, Ames began recruiting staff of what was to become the Dartmouth Eye Institute. From
Eastman Kodak Company
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
he recruited lens designer Gordon H. Gliddon. More staff joined the department over the years, including
Kenneth N. Ogle
Kenneth N. Ogle (1902-1968) was a scientist of human vision. He was born in Colorado, and attended the public school and college at Colorado Springs. In 1925, Ogle earned a bachelor's degree from Colorado College cum laude. After graduation from ...
, with whom Ames worked on
stereopsis
Stereopsis () is the component of depth perception retrieved through binocular vision.
Stereopsis is not the only contributor to depth perception, but it is a major one. Binocular vision happens because each eye receives a different image becaus ...
and
binocular vision
In biology, binocular vision is a type of vision in which an animal has two eyes capable of facing the same direction to perceive a single three-dimensional image of its surroundings. Binocular vision does not typically refer to vision where an ...
. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1928.
The Dartmouth Eye Institute (DEI)
In 1935 the Department of Physiological Optics became the Dartmouth Eye Institute under the overall directorship of
Alfred Bielschowsky
Alfred Bielschowsky (December 11, 1871 – April 5, 1940) was a German ophthalmologist. His specialty was physiology and pathology of the eye, particularly in regards to research of eye movement, space perception and diagnosis of oculomotor anoma ...
, with Ames serving as its director of research. Ames garnered support for it from various sources including
John D. Rockefeller Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.
He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...
, the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
, and the American Optical Company. The institute at various times employed between thirty and forty staff, including researchers, and clinicians who examined patients' eyes and made eyeglasses.
Research at the institute concentrated on binocular vision, including
cyclophoria
Cyclotropia is a form of strabismus in which, compared to the correct positioning of the eyes, there is a torsion of one eye (or both) about the eye's visual axis. Consequently, the visual fields of the two eyes appear tilted relative to each o ...
(the tendency of the eyes to rotate in opposite directions in their sockets) and
aniseikonia
Aniseikonia is an ocular condition where there is a significant difference in the perceived size of images. It can occur as an overall difference between the two eyes, or as a difference in a particular meridian. If the ocular image size in both e ...
(in which each eye has a differently sized retinal image of the same object). This latter defect could be corrected by lenses that restored the usual equality of image sizes.
In 1940, Bielschowsky died unexpectedly. Hermann Burian, an ophthalmologist, worked briefly as acting director, and then was relieved by Walter Lancaster. He was not able to exert the influence he wanted, resigning in 1942. On 10 May 1947 the institute was closed.
Scientific achievements and honors
![Ames window](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Ames_window.png)
Ames is perhaps best known for his eponymous
room
In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passage (architecture), passageway, another roo ...
,
window
A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent materia ...
, and chair. These were called "equivalent configurations" by Ittelson (1952), defined as "configurations
n which
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
identical 'incoming messages' can come from different external physical arrangements. In the absence of other information,... equivalent configurations will be perceived as identical, no matter how different they be physically" (p. 55).
Ames also developed the concept of "transactional ambiguity" holding that "mental set" or expectation could materially affect one's perception of visual and other stimuli, as with the
Ames trapezoid
Ames window
The Ames trapezoid or Ames window is an image on, for example, a flat piece of cardboard that seems to be a rectangular window but is, in fact, a trapezoid. Both sides of the piece of cardboard have the same image. The cardboard is h ...
. This hypothesis extended the impact of mental set from the widely believed impact on one's conclusions about stimuli (the eyewitness phenomenon) to actual perception of the stimuli itself. If true, it calls seriously into question the value of eyewitness reports even by individuals with no prejudices about their observations. In 1941 Ames began to make notes in the morning on his transactional analysis of perception. In 1960 his collaborator
Hadley Cantril
Albert Hadley Cantril, Jr. (16 June 1906 – 28 May 1969) was an American psychologist from the Princeton University, who expanded the scope of the field.
Cantril made "major contributions in psychology of propaganda; public opinion research; appl ...
published an edited selection from these notes, with a Preface, and included Ames' correspondence with
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
.
In 1954, Ames was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...
by Dartmouth. In 1955 he won the Tillyer Medal, awarded by the
Optical Society of America
Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...
. Ames died on July 3, 1955, and was buried at the Dartmouth Cemetery.
His name, and that of his siblings, is also inscribed on the gravestone of his parents at the
Hildreth family cemetery in Lowell.
In the address given on the presentation of the Tillyer Medal, the president of the society listed 38 books and scientific papers Ames wrote, and 21 patents awarded to Ames.
Publications in psychology
* 1946: "Binocular vision as affected by uniocular stimulus patterns in commonplace environments",
American Journal of Psychology
The ''American Journal of Psychology'' is a journal devoted primarily to experimental psychology. It is the first such journal to be published in the English language (though ''Mind'', founded in 1876, published some experimental psychology earl ...
59:333–57
* 1949: "Architectural Form and Visual Sensations", pages 82–91 in ''Building for Modern Man'', edited by Thomas Creighton,
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
.
* 1949: (with
Hadley Cantril
Albert Hadley Cantril, Jr. (16 June 1906 – 28 May 1969) was an American psychologist from the Princeton University, who expanded the scope of the field.
Cantril made "major contributions in psychology of propaganda; public opinion research; appl ...
, A. H. Hastorf & W. H.Ittelson) "Psychology and Scientific Research",
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
110: 461–4, 491–7, 517–22.
* 1950: Sensations, their Nature and Origin, ''Transformation'' 1: 11,2
* 1950: (with W. H. Ittelson) "Accommodation, Convergence and their relation to Apparent Distance",
The Journal of Psychology
''The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied'' is a bimonthly double-blind, peer-review psychology journal published by Taylor & Francis. ''The Journal of Psychology'' was founded in 1935 by Carl Murchison, an American psychologist, ...
30:43–62.
* 1951: "Visual Perception and the Rotating Trapezoidal Window", ''Psychological Monographs'' 65(7): #324
* 1953: "Reconsideration of the Origin and Nature of Perception", in ''Vision and Action'', edited by S. Ratner,
Rutgers University Press
Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.
History
Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...
* 1955: ''An Interpretive Manual: The Nature of our Perceptions, Prehensions and Behavior''
Additional information
Ames family papersSophia Smith Collection
Smith College
References
Bibliography
* Behrens, R. R. (1987). The Life and Unusual Ideas of Adelbert Ames Jr. "Leonardo: Journal of the International Society of Arts, Sciences and Technology, 20," 273–279.
* Behrens, R. R. (1994). Adelbert Ames and the Cockeyed Room. "Print magazine, 48:2," 92–97.
* Behrens, R. R. (1997). Eyed Awry: The Ingenuity of Del Ames. "North American Review, 282:2," 26–33.
* Behrens, R. R. (1998). The Artistic and Scientific Collaboration of Blanche Ames Ames and Adelbert Ames II. "Leonardo, 31," 47–54.
* Behrens, R. R. (1999). Adelbert Ames, Fritz Heider, and the Chair Demonstration. "Gestalt Theory, 21," 184–190.
* Behrens, R. R. (2009a). "Adelbert Ames II" entry in ''Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage''. Dysart IA: Bobolink Books, pp. 25–26. .
* Behrens, R. R. (2009b). "Ames Demonstrations in Perception" in E. Bruce Goldstein, ed., ''Encyclopedia of Perception''. Sage Publications, pp. 41–44. .
* Bisno, D. C. (1994). "Eyes in the Storm: President Hopkin's Dilemma: The Dartmouth Eye Institute." Norwich, VT: Norwich Press Books.
* Digital Library at Dartmouth. (ND). ''Blanche B. Marshall Mclane Bruner papers in the Dartmouth College Library''. Hanover NH: Dartmouth College. Retrieved May 20, 2005, from https://web.archive.org/web/20050402231154/http://diglib.dartmouth.edu/library/ead/html/ms768.html
* Digital Library at Dartmouth. (ND). ''Guide to the Records of the Dartmouth Eye Institute 1917–1952
930–1945in the Dartmouth College Library''. Hanover NH: Dartmouth College. Retrieved May 20, 2005, from https://web.archive.org/web/20050402230617/http://diglib.dartmouth.edu/library/ead/html/da35.html
* Gliddon, G. H. (1955). Necrology: Adelbert Ames Jr. ''Journal of the Optical Society of America, 45,'' 1003.
* Gregory, R. L. (1987). Analogue transactions with Adelbert Ames. ''Perception, 16,'' 277–282.
* The Optical Society of America. (1955). Adelbert Ames Jr.: Edgar D. Tillyer Medalist for 1955. ''Journal of the Optical Society of America, 45,'' 333–337.
* Wade, N. J., &
Hughes, P. (1999). Fooling the eyes: Trompe l'oeil and reverse perspective. ''Perception, 28,'' 1115–1119.
* Wade, N. J., Ono, H., & Lillakas, L. (2001). Leonardo da Vinci's struggles with representations of reality. ''Leonardo, 34,'' 231–235.
External links
Adelbert Ames, Fritz Heider and the Ames Chair Demonstration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ames, Adelbert Jr.
1880 births
1955 deaths
Butler–Ames family
American physiologists
20th-century American psychologists
Clark University alumni
Dartmouth College faculty
American ophthalmologists
Phillips Academy alumni
People from Lowell, Massachusetts
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Harvard Law School alumni
Vision scientists