Edgar D. Tillyer Award

History and Funding
Learn more about the award and its establishment
Nomination Guide
Information and deadlines for nominations
Selection Committee
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Edgar D. Tillyer Award

Edgar D. Tillyer Award Presented to a person who has performed distinguished work in the field of vision, including (but not limited to) the optics, physiology, anatomy or psychology of the visual system.

The award was established in 1953 to honor of Edgar D. Tillyer’s important contributions to the advancement of better vision and the optical sciences. It is endowed by the American Optical Company and the Chope Family Bypass Trust. The award has been presented annually since 2016.

Winners

2021

David H Brainard

For groundbreaking experimental and theoretical contributions to our understanding of how the visual system resolves the ambiguities inherent in sensory signals to produce a stable percept of object color.

2020

Wilson S Geisler

For pioneering theories of optimal visual processing that bring together scene statistics, physiological constraints, and task requirements to gain a new understanding of perceptual functions and eye movements

2019

Pablo Artal

For the pioneering use of optics and photonics technologies to unravel the human visual system and to improve eye diagnostics and correction

2018

Martin S Banks

For applying an innovative and rigorous scientific approach to make significant contributions in the fields of visual development, sensory cue combination and 3D vision

2017

Ken Nakayama

For wide ranging studies of the visual system, especially for unique and critical contributions to the formulation of a distinct level of visual processing, that of visual surfaces

2016

Dennis M Levi

For ground-breaking studies of normal spatial vision, plasticity in the adult visual system, and amblyopia

2014

Suzanne P McKee

For contributions to fundamental understanding of visual motion and of normal and abnormal human stereo vision, revealing the limits and character of brain mechanisms responsible for the perception of depth

2012

Gerald H. Jacobs

For contributions to fundamental understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying color vision , and for pioneering comparative studies which have revealed the nature, variations, and evolution of primate color vision

2010

Stephen Allen Burns

For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the photoreceptor mechanisms through electrophysiology, psychophysics, optics and in vivo retinal imaging

2008

Brian A Wandell

For outstanding contributions to the science of color vision and color imaging systems, and for pioneering work on brain imaging that has illuminated the organization and function of human visual processing

2006

Donald I A MacLeod

For unparalleled virtuosity in the psychophysical dissection of the visual pathway into the stages that culminate in color, spatial and temporal vision

2004

John Krauskopf *

For creative and inventive work in many aspects of vision, and especially for psychophysical and electrophysiological experiments that have changed the way post-receptoral and cortical color vision mechanisms are conceived and studied

2002

George Sperling

For his innovative research in human visual information processing, specifically in: flicker perception; spatial vision; binocular vision; masking; visual memory; visual attention; and motion perception

2000

John Dixon Mollon

For his leadership for over a quarter of a century in vision research, with contributions to psychophysics, microspectrometry, molecular genetics, field studies of wild primates and normal and defective color vision

1998

David R Williams

For investigations into the psychophysics and optics of vision that have been uniquely innovative, imaginatively conceived, and impeccably executed, and has greatly advanced our understanding of the factors limiting visual resolution

1996

John G Robson

For research in visual psychophysics, physiology, and optics, which has shown us how to apply linear systems theory and sinusoidal gratings to characterize how visual contrast is transmitted through the optics, retina, and cortex, to perception, elucidating the relation between the visual scene in front of the eye and the neural image in the brain

1994

Jacob Nachmias

For his theoretical and empirical contributions to our understanding of spatial vision

1992

Horace B. Barlow

For his outstanding contributions to the basic understanding of the physiology and psychophysics of vision

1990

Vivianne C Smith

For contributions to basic and applied vision research, particularly in the areas of cone fundamentals, defective color vision, and flicker

1990

Joel Pokorny

For contributions to basic and applied vision research, particularly in the areas of cone fundamentals, defective color vision, and flicker

1988

Russell L. De Valois

For contributions to the understanding of mechanisms of vision, particularly the analysis and encoding of information in the visual nervous system

1986

Donald H. Kelly *

For his outstanding analysis of spatial, temporal, and chromatic responses of the human visual system

1984

Mathew Alpern

For many and outstanding contributions to visual science, particularly color vision, and for providing a benchmark standard of scientific achievement for the vision community

1982

Leo M Hurvich *

In recognition of their contributions to our understanding of visual processes

1982

Dorothea Jameson *

In recognition of their contributions to our understanding of visual processes

1980

Fergus W. Campbell

For his contributions to basic biophysics through studies of neural mechanisms for vision as well as his clinical studies

1978

Gerald Westheimer

For his contributions to our understanding of linear systems, vergence movements, and modulation transfer function of the eye and to the organization of spatial vision

1976