Christine Ladd-Franklin: biography of this experimental psychologist

This researcher applied her knowledge in physics and mathematics to experimental psychology.

Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930) was a mathematician, psychologist and suffragette feminist who fought to eliminate the barriers that prevented women from accessing universities in the first half of the 20th century. Among other things, she taught logic and mathematics, and later developed a theory of color vision that had a major impact on modern psychology.

The following is a biography of Christine Ladd we will see a biography of Christine Ladd-Franklina psychologist who not only developed important scientific knowledge, but also fought to ensure women's access and participation in universities.

Christine Ladd-Franklin: biography of this American psychologist

Christine Ladd-Franklin was born on December 1, 1847, in Connecticut, United States. She was the eldest of two siblings, children of Eliphalet and Augusta Ladd.** Her mother was a militant suffragette** who died when Christine was young, so Ladd-Franklin ended up moving in with her aunt and paternal grandmother in New Hampshire.

In 1866 she began studying at Vassar College (a school for women). However, she soon had to abandon her studies due to financial difficulties. She resumed her studies two years later thanks to her own savings and after receiving financial support from her family.

From the very beginning, Christine Ladd-Franklin was highly motivated by research and science.. At Vassar College she studied with Maria Mitchell, a renowned American astronomer who was already internationally recognized.

For example, she is the first woman to have discovered a new comet through a telescope and is also the first woman to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Mitchell was also a woman suffragist, which greatly inspired Ladd-Franklin in her professional development and as a woman scientist.

Christine Ladd-Franklin was particularly interested in physics, but faced with difficulties in pursuing a career as a researcher in that area, she moved toward mathematics, she moved into mathematics. Later, she turned to experimental research in psychology and physiology.

Ladd-Franklin on the exclusion of women in academia

In addition to being recognized as an important psychologist, Christine Ladd-Franklin is remembered for standing up firmly against the policies of exclusion of women in the new American universities, as well as those who advocated such policies.

For example, in 1876 she wrote a letter to the renowned mathematician James J. Sylvester at the newly formed John Hopkins University to question directly whether being a woman was a logical and sufficient reason to deny her access to higher education..

At the same time, she sent an application for admission on scholarship to that university, signed with the name "C. Ladd", and along with an excellent academic record. She was admitted, until the committee discovered that the letter "C" stood for "Christine", and they almost annulled her admission. At this point Sylvester intervened and Ladd-Franklin was finally accepted as a full-time student, albeit with "special" treatment.

Training in logic and mathematics

James J. Sylvester was a well-known scholar; among other things he is credited with coining the terms "matrix" and the theory of algebraic invariants. Along with him, Christine Ladd-Franklin was trained in mathematics. On the other hand, she trained in symbolic logic with Charles S. Peirceone of the philosophers who founded pragmatism. Christine Ladd-Franklin who became the first American woman to receive formal education with such scientists.

She completed her doctoral training in logic and mathematics in 1882, with a thesis that was later included in one of Pierce's most important volumes on logic and syllogisms. However, on the grounds that coeducation was not appropriate for civilized communities, his doctoral degree was not officially recognized by the university.. Forty-four years passed, and on the 50th anniversary of Johns Hopkins University, when Ladd-Franklin was 79 years old, she was finally recognized.

However, she did work as a professor at the same university during the first years of 1900, to which more difficulties were added, because she decided to get married and start a family together with the mathematician Fabian Franklin (from whom she took her surname). In this context, married women had even more problems to access and sustain official academic activities.

Likewise, Christine Ladd-Franklin protested in an important way against the rejection of British psychologist Edward the refusal of the British psychologist Edward Titchener to admit women to the Society of Experimental Psychologists which he had founded as an alternative to the meetings of the American Psychological Association (APA). Where, in fact, Christine Ladd-Franklin did participate regularly.

Development in Experimental Psychology

Christine Ladd-Franklin moved to Germany together with Fabian Franklin, where she developed her research in color vision. At the beginning she worked in the Göttingen laboratory with Georg Elias Müller (one of the founders of experimental psychology). Later he was in Berlin, in a laboratory together with Hermann von Helmholtz, physicist and philosopher pioneer in physiological psychology.

After working with them and other experimental psychologists, Christine Ladd-Franklin developed a theory of her own about how our photoreceptors act. how our photoreceptors act in connection in connection with the chemical functioning of the nervous system, allowing us to perceive different colors.

Ladd-Franklin's theory of color vision

During the 19th century, there were two main theories on color vision, which are still valid, at least in part, to this day. On the one hand, in 1803, the English scientist Thomas Young had proposed that our retina is prepared to perceive three "primary colors": red, green, blue or violet. On the other hand, the German physiologist Ewald Hering had proposed that there are three pairs of such colors: red-green, yellow-blue and black and white; and studied how the photosensitive reaction of the nerves ensures that we can perceive them..

What Ladd-Franklin proposed is that there is rather a three-stage process in the development of vision. three stages in the development of color vision. Black and white vision is the most primitive of the stages, because it can occur under very little illumination. Then, it is the white color that allows the differentiation between blue and yellow, and the latter, yellow, allows the differentiated vision of red-green.

In very broad strokes, Christine Ladd-Franklin succeeded in uniting the two major theoretical approaches to color vision in an evolutionary photochemical hypothesis. Specifically, she described the process of ether-wave action on the retinaunderstood as one of the main generators of light sensations.

His theory was very well received in the scientific context of the early 20th century, and its influence has been maintained to the present day, especially the emphasis he placed on the evolutionary factor in our color vision.

Bibliographical references:

• Vaughn, K. (2010). Profile. Christine Ladd-Franklin. Retrieved June 26, 2018. Available at http://www.feministvoices.com/christine-ladd-franklin/.
• Vassar Encyclopedia. (2008). Christine Ladd-Franklin. Retrieved June 26, 2018. Available at http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/christine-ladd-franklin.html.
• Dauder Garcia, S. (2005). Psychology and feminism. Forgotten history of pioneering women in psychology. Narcea: Madrid.