Dorothy Nickerson (August 5, 1900 – April 25, 1985) was an American
color scientist and
technologist who made important contributions in the fields of color
quality control
Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
This approach plac ...
, technical use of
colorimetry
Colorimetry is "the science and technology used to quantify and describe physically the human color perception".
It is similar to spectrophotometry, but is distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to the physical correlates of color p ...
, the relationship between color stimuli and
color perception
Color vision, a feature of visual perception, is an ability to perceive differences between light composed of different frequencies independently of light intensity.
Color perception is a part of the larger visual system and is mediated by a co ...
s, standardization of light sources, color tolerance specification, and others.
Background
Dorothy Nickerson was born on August 5, 1900, and raised in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. In 1919, she attended
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
and in 1923
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
. She continued her education at summer courses and university extensions at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
,
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
, and the Graduate School of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Her special interest was the science of color, then in significant development.
Career
In 1921, Nickerson joined the
Munsell Color Company
The Munsell Color Company was founded by Albert H. Munsell in 1917 with two other stockholders, Arthur Allen and Ray Greenleaf. It was located at Boston, Massachusetts. This company was manufactured to carry on business by publishing books, selli ...
as a laboratory assistant and secretary to A.E.O. Munsell, who had taken over the firm from his father in 1918. In 1922, the firm moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and in 1923 to
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
.
In 1927, Nickerson was offered a position at the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...
(USDA), where she remained until retiring in 1964. When she joined, color science and technology had no international standards as they came into industrial use. Nickerson prodded instrumental in developing the technology and use in agricultural and industrial settings.
Nickerson was a trustee of the Munsell Color Foundation since 1942, was its president from 1973 to 1975, and assisted in the transfer of the foundation to the
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...
in 1983 where it helped fund the then new Munsell Color Science Laboratory.
Color quality control of agricultural product
In the late 1920s Nickerson worked on usage of disk color mixture to define the color quality of
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
and other agricultural products and the conversion of disk mixture data into the
CIE colorimetric system of 1931.
[D. Nickerson, A method for determining the color of agricultural products, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Technical Bulletin 154, 1929, 32 p.]
Standardization of light sources for color assessment and color rendering
In the late 1930s, a major occupation was the development of defined
light source
Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...
s for visual assessment of color quality. Later, she was also active in the development and promotion of standard methods for the definition of color rendering of lights.
[D. Nickerson, Artificial daylighting for color grading of agricultural products, Journal of the Optical Society of America 29 (1939) 1–9.]
Color tolerance specification
In 1936 Nickerson published the first
color difference
In color science, color difference or color distance is the separation between two colors. This metric allows quantified examination of a notion that formerly could only be described with adjectives. Quantification of these properties is of great ...
formula for industrial use, based on the addition of increments of Munsell
hue,
chroma, and
lightness
Lightness is a visual perception of the luminance (L) of an object. It is often judged relative to a similarly lit object. In colorimetry and color appearance models, lightness is a prediction of how an illuminated color will appear to a stand ...
scale values. In 1943, together with Newhall, she published realistic representations of a three-dimensional perceptually approximately uniform optimal object
color solid
A color solid is the Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional representation of a color space or Color model, model and can be thought as an analog of, for example, the One-dimensional space, one-dimensional color wheel, which depicts the v ...
. In 1944, together with her assistant K. F. Stultz, she published a colorimetric color difference formula,
[D. Nickerson, The specification of color tolerances, Textile Research 6 (1936) 505–514.][D. Nickerson, K.F. Stultz, Color tolerance specification, Journal of the Optical Society of America 34 (1944) 550–570.] known as the Adams–Nickerson–Stultz formula, that in modified form eventually became the
CIE 1976 L*,a*,b* (CIELAB) color space and difference formula.
Munsell color system and its colorimetric definition
In 1940, a technical committee of the
Optical Society of America
Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...
(OSA) began a study of the
Munsell color system
The Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three properties of color: hue (basic color), value (lightness), and colorfulness, chroma (color intensity). It was created by Albert Henry Munsell, Albert H. Munsell in the ...
and its definition in the CIE colorimetric system. Nickerson was an important participant in this effort. The final report of the committee was authored by S.M. Newhall, Nickerson, and
Deane B. Judd and its result is known as the "Munsell Renotations," the specification of the aim colors of the current system. Nickerson prepared plots of the Munsell colors in the CIE
chromaticity
Chromaticity is an objective specification of the quality of a color regardless of its luminance. Chromaticity consists of two independent parameters, often specified as '' hue'' (''h'') and ''colorfulness'' (''s''), where the latter is alte ...
diagram that remain in publication today.
[S.M. Newhall, D. Nickerson, D.B. Judd, Final report of the OSA Subcommittee on the spacing of the Munsell colors, Journal of the Optical Society of America 33 (1943) 385–418.][G. Wyszecki, W.S. Stiles, Color science, 2nd ed., New York: Wiley, 1972, pp. 853–861.]
Color charts
In the mid-1940s, Nickerson was active in methods for assessing the color of
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
s, an effort that found its expression in the Munsell Soil Color Chart, still in use today. In 1957, Munsell issued the Nickerson Color Fan, a
color chart
A color chart or color reference card is a flat, physical object that has many different color samples present. They can be available as a single-page chart, or in the form of swatchbooks or color-matching fans.
Typically there are two differ ...
for horticultural purposes.
[Nickerson Color Fan, produced by the Munsell Color Company, beginning in 1957, with 262 color samples in 40 hues, no longer produced.] Working with Judd, the chair of the OSA committee that developed the
OSA Uniform Color Scales, Nickerson as a member of the committee was also a contributor to that effort for over 25 years and wrote a detailed history of the development of the system.
Industry associations
Nickerson was a member of several color-related national and international associations, including the Optical Society of America (OSA), the US National Committee to the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), the Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC), the International Colour Association (AIC), and the
Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA).
Personal life and death
Dorothy Nickerson died age 84 on April 25, 1985.
Awards and recognition
* ISCC: In 1931 Nickerson became the first individual member of the ISCC and was a lifelong member. In 1961 she received the Godlove Award. In 1983 the eponymous Nickerson Service Award was created.
* OSA: In 1959 Nickerson joined five other women,
Christine Ladd-Franklin
Christine Ladd-Franklin (December 1, 1847 – March 5, 1930) was an American psychologist, logician, and mathematician.
Early life and education
Christine Ladd, sometimes known by the nickname "Kitty", was born on December 1, 1847, in Winds ...
,
Charlotte Moore Sitterly,
Gertrude Rand,
Louise L Sloan, and
Mary E Warga as part of the first class of fellows of the OSA.
* IESNA: In 1970 Nickerson received the Gold Medal of the IESNA.
* AIC: In 1975 Nickerson received the first Judd Award of the AIC.
Works
Nickerson was the author and co-author of some 150 papers and publications, including Color measurement and its application to the grading of agricultural products, USDA Miscell.Publications 580, 1946, 62 p.
Shortly before her death, Nickerson wrote an appreciation of her mentor,
Alexander Ector Orr Munsell.
[
]
References
External links
*
* Th
Inter-Society Color Council records at
Hagley Museum and Library
The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Po ...
contain the Dorothy Nickerson papers including correspondence; publications and reports; and records from the Munsell Color Foundation, Illuminating Engineering Society, and Optical Society of America.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickerson, Dorothy
Color scientists
Boston University alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
20th-century American scientists
20th-century American women scientists
1900 births
1985 deaths
Fellows of Optica (society)