H. Richard and Olive M. Blackwell papers

H. Richard Blackwell was born on January 16, 1921 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in philosophy from Haverford College in 1941, an A.M. in psychology from Brown University in 1942, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1947.

H. Richard Blackwell became a resident psychologist at the Polaroid Corporation in 1943. He was selected through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to head the Tiffany Foundation, a vision research project designed for military applications, from 1943 until 1945. He was awarded the Army-Navy Certificate of Appreciation in 1947 for this work. He also served as the executive secretary of the Armed Forces-National Research Counsel Vision Committee from 1945 until 1955. Blackwell became a faculty member at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1948 and developed the Vision Research Laboratory. In 1958, he left the University of Michigan and accepted a position at the Ohio State University, Columbus. Blackwell held the titles of Director of the Institute for Research in Vision, Professor of Biophysics, Professor of Physiological Optics in Optometry, and Research Professor of Ophthalmology at Ohio State. He retired in 1983 as professor emeritus in the College of Optometry.

Over his career, H. Richard Blackwell's professional activities included serving as director of the Optical Society of America and he was chairperson of their Vision Technical Groups. He was the chairperson of the Vision and Physiological Committee for the Optics Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and chairperson of the Visual Performance Committee of the International Commission on Illumination [Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage]. He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, the American Institute of Physics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He won the Adolph Bomb Medal of the Optical Society of America in 1950, a Citation for Excellence in Medical Authorship from the Industrial Medical Association in 1957, the Certificate of Distinguished Service of Illuminating Engineering Research Institute in 1960 and was the 1972 Illuminating Engineering Society Gold Medalist. Blackwell was also a Member for Life of the United States Committee for International Commission on Illumination [Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage].

H. Richard Blackwell married Olive Mortensen Blackwell (OMB) in 1943. OMB earned an A.B. and undertook graduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She collaborated with her husband on several research projects and co-authored several papers with him.

H. Richard Blackwell died in 1995. OMB, as of October 2006, resides in Longboat Key, Florida.