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William Albert Hugh Rushton
(8 Dec 1901 - 21 Jun 1980)
British neurophysiologist whose primary field in physiology was the study of color vision. He was the first to describe the Principle of Univariance, which is fundamental to the study of perception.
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Science Quotes by William Albert Hugh Rushton (3 quotes)
A theory which cannot be mortally endangered cannot be alive.
— William Albert Hugh Rushton
Personal communication quoted by John R. Platt in 'Science, Strong Inference', Science (16 Oct 1964), 146, No. 3642, 349.
The goal of this presentation is to impress, rather than inform.
— William Albert Hugh Rushton
As quoted in obituary, A.L. Hodgkin, 'Some Recollections of William Rushton and his Contributions to Neurophysiology', Vision Research (1982), 22, 614. Hodgkin wrote that this quote was “confided to me before a 12 minute talk describing our work.”
This very important property of rods, and indeed also of each kind of cone, this limitation of output to a single dimension of change, may be called the Principle of Univariance and stated thus: “The output of a receptor depends upon its quantum catch, but not upon what quanta are caught.” … Young's theory of colour vision may now be stated in terms of cone pigments. “There are three classes of cone each containing a different visual pigment. The output of each cone is univariant, depending simply upon the quantum catch of its pigment. Our sensation of colour depends upon the ratios of these three cone outputs.”
— William Albert Hugh Rushton
Principle of Univariance, concerning color vision, as stated in Lecture to a meeting of the Physiological Society at Chelsea College, London (17 Apr 1970), and reported in 'Pigments and Signals in Colour Vision', The Journal of Physiology (1972), 220 No. 3, 4P.
Quotes by others about William Albert Hugh Rushton (1)
[William Rushton was] a man with great personal magnetism and considerable charm… [although] There were those who misjudged all of this as arrogance.
In obituary, 'Some Recollections of William Rushton and his Contributions to Neurophysiology', Vision Research (1982), 22, 614.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
