Horace B Barlow studied medicine throughout World War II, first at Cambridge and then at Harvard Medical School, which awarded him an MD in 1946. He completed medical training at University College Hospital, London, before beginning research in neurophysiology at the Cambridge Physiology Laboratory. After various positions at Cambridge University, he became Professor of Physiological Optics and Physiology at UC Berkeley in 1964. In 1974, he returned to Trinity College and the Cambridge Physiology Department to take the Royal Society Research Chair of Physiology, where he remained active even after his retirement.

Barlow was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and OSA. His many awards include the Royal Academy’s Royal Medal, the Australia Prize, the Ferrier Medal, the Edgar D. Tillyer Award, and the Ken Nakayama Prize from the Vision Sciences Society.

Barlow passed away in 2020.