OSA Fellow Floyd Ratliff received his B.A. in psychology from Colorado College in 1947. For his graduate studies, he attended at Brown University, earning both his M.S. and Ph.D. in physiological psychology in 1949 and 1950, respectively. He began teaching at Harvard University the following year, becoming an assistant professor in 1952. He left Harvard in 1954 for a position as an associate in biophysics at The Rockefeller Institute (now The Rockefeller University). In 1966, he became professor of biophysics and physiological psychology at the newly named Rockefeller University, and he held the position until becoming professor emeritus in 1989.

From 1974 to 1986, he served as the Head of the Laboratory of Biophysics. He also was the president of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation from 1983 to 1989. Ratliff was a member of numerous organizations, including the Society for Neuroscience, the American Psychological Society, the Society of General Physiologists, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and OSA. For his work in retinal mechanisms, he was awarded the Edgar D. Tillyer Award from OSA in 1976, the Pisart Vision Award from the New York Association for the Blind in 1983, and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association in 1984.

He passed away in 1999.