Some Historical Notes on Carl Pulfrich

Though Carl Pulfrich (1858-1927) is best known to visual scientists for the stereophenomenon which carries his name, his loss of vision in one eye prevented him from observing the phenomenon. His demonstration apparatus did not include a pendulum as is usually stated in descriptions of the Pulfrich effect. Pulfrich himself gave full credit to others for discovering the phenomenon and for the theoretical explanation. The notion that the effect could be applied to heterochromatic photometry was his own, however. A few biographical notes of pertinent interest are included.