control console for Spectra Pritchard photometer
Date: circa 1980
Inventory Number: 2004-1-0214b
Classification: Photometer
Subject:
Maker: (Photo Research Division) Kollmorgen Corporation (1916-present)
User: Edwin H. Land (1909 - 1991)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
14 × 41.5 × 21.3 cm (5 1/2 × 16 5/16 × 8 3/8 in.)
Accessories: data cable
Description:
This console contains readouts, controls and system electronics for the photometer. It includes the AutoComp, AutoRange and AutoZero, as well as a detector overload protection circuit and other features.
More technical details of this instrument can be found online here.
A sticker mentions the following information: Calibrated on 8-13-85 / by SC / Due 2-13-86.
More technical details of this instrument can be found online here.
A sticker mentions the following information: Calibrated on 8-13-85 / by SC / Due 2-13-86.
In Collection(s)
Signedunder instrument: PHOTO RESEARCH / KOLLMORGEN CORP.
FunctionUsed by Land for his experiments with color vision (Retinex theory). It was also most likely used in Land's famous lectures on the same topic.
Curatorial RemarksIn one of the binders, there is a "Certificate of compliance and conformance" dated 13 August 1985, corresponding to the sticker found on this instrument. Tucked in the box with the instruction manual are some manuscript pages. From the dates here, and the three binders with the inv. numbers 2004-1-0214d-e-f we know this instrument was used at least from 1985 to 1987 (and perhaps as early as 1977 since it is featured in Land's "The Retinex Theory of Color Vision," Scientific American 237 (1977): 108-128).
Primary SourcesEdwin H. Land, "The Retinex Theory of Color Vision," Scientific American 237 (1977): 108-128.
Edwin H. Land, "Recent Advances in Retinex Theory and Some Implications for Cortical Computations: Color Vision and the Natural Image," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 80 (1983): 5163-5169.
Edwin H. Land, "An Alternative Technique for the Computation of the Designator in the Retinex Theory of Color Vision," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 83 (1986): 3078-3080.
Edwin H. Land, "Recent Advances in Retinex Theory and Some Implications for Cortical Computations: Color Vision and the Natural Image," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 80 (1983): 5163-5169.
Edwin H. Land, "An Alternative Technique for the Computation of the Designator in the Retinex Theory of Color Vision," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 83 (1986): 3078-3080.
ProvenanceThis object belonged to Edwin H. Land and came from the Rowland Institute, Harvard University. Gift of the Edwin H. Land Family.
