Gertrude Rand

Who is Gertrude Rand?

Marie Gertrude Rand Ferree was an American research scientist who is known for her extensive body of work about color perception. Her work included "mapping the retina for its perceptional abilities", "developing new instruments and lamps for ophthalmologists", and "detection and measurement of color blindness". Rand, with LeGrand H. Hardy and M. Catherine Rittler, developed the HRR pseudoisochromatic color test.

While working at Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she acquired patents for lighting devices and instruments, and worked on the lighting of the Holland Tunnel between New York and New Jersey. In 1912, Rand received the Sarah Berliner Research and Lecture fellowship from the Association of Collegiate Alumnae which became the American Association of University Women. She was the first female fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society and received a Gold Medal award from that society in 1963. In 1959, she became the first woman to receive the Optical Society of America's Edgar D. Tillyer Medal.