From the UK, Dr. Christopher French informs us of another loss to the skeptical community. Richard Gregory, CBE, FRS, passed away on May 17th at age 86. He was Professor of Neuropsychology in the Brain and Perception laboratory at Bristol University, where he remained active to the end after his formal retirement.  As well as his very well-known research on visual perception, he was the author of an important 1966 article in the journal Eye and Brain which went through multiple editions in many languages and must have been read by most psychology students and many others over the last 40+ years. He was also editor of the Oxford Companion to the Mind, and founder of the journal Perception. He was an advocate for scientific psychology and was enthusiastically committed to the public understanding of science, in particular to the development of the Exploratory, a hands-on science centre in Bristol.

Professor Gregory and I spent a few enjoyable and informative hours together a few years ago in the UK discussing the art of conjuring and how it relates to persistence of vision, angles of view, and other related aspects of sensory perception.  It was a very valuable and enjoyable encounter with an interesting and – dare I say it – perceptive observer.

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