Gordon Legge received a Bachelor's degree in Physics from MIT in 1971, and a Master's degree in Astronomy from Harvard in 1972. In 1976, he earned a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Harvard. He joined the University of Minnesota in 1977 after a one-year postdoctoral position at the Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge University, UK.

In 1977, Legge joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota. He is currently director of the Minnesota Laboratory for Low-Vision Research, a founding member and scientific co-director of the Center for Applied and Translational Sensory Science (CATSS), and Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience.

His research concerns visual perception and cognition, with particular interest in the problems encountered by people with low vision. His projects focus on the roles of vision in reading and mobility, and the impact of impaired vision on the organization of visual centers in the brain. He addresses these issues with psychophysics, computational modeling, and brain-imaging (fMRI).

He and his colleagues developed the MNREAD Reading-Acuity Chart, which is the gold standard for assessment of reading vision. He served on the NIH National Advisory Eye Council, and was a member of a National Research Council committee involved with the redesign of US currency bills to enhance visual accessibility.

Legge’s research has been recognized by an NIH MERIT award, the Lighthouse Pisart Vision Award, the 2013 Prentice medal from the American Academy of Optometry, the 2015 Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research, the 2018 Inspirational Vision Research Award from the National Eye Institute, and the 2024 James McKeen Cattell Award from the Association for Psychological Science. He received the 2024 Edgar D. Tillyer Award, “For revolutionizing the field of low vision research and applying this knowledge to aid and improve reading and mobility in people with low vision.”