Floyd Ratliff (Psychology)

    Floyd Ratliff was Associate Professor of Biophysics at the Rockefeller Institute.  He received his B.A. degree from Colorado College in 1947 and his M.S. and Ph.D degrees from Brown University.  He had been a Research Associate at Brown University and in 1954 was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

    In 1955, Dr. Ratliff was appointed a Consultant to the Surgeon General’s Panel on Vision of the Advisory Committee of Psychobiology.  In 1957, he was appointed a member of the National Science Foundation Advisory Panel for Psychobiology.  In 1963, Dr. Ratliff became a Consultant to the United States Sciences Exhibit of the Department of Commerce, and in 1963, he became a member of the Visual Sciences Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.

    Dr. Ratliff was a member of the Optical Society of America, The American Psychological Association, The Society of Experimental Psychologist, The Psychonomic Society, The American Association of the Advancement of Science, and the Eastern Psychological Association.  He is the noted author of numerous papers and journal articles.

    In his book, Mach Bands, Dr. Ratliff brings together and integrates the contribution made to a specialized field by psychology, neuropsychology, psychological optics, mathematics, the theory of knowledge, and the history of science.  It is directed to the advanced student in psychology, physiology, and related fields, and to the researcher in industries concerned with the transmission of information and pattern recognition. (4/30/01)