Herman Bouma (born 15 March 1934) is a Dutch vision researcher and gerontechnologist. He is considered to be one of the founders of the field of

gerontechnology Gerontechnology, also called is an inter- and multidisciplinary academic as well as a professional field that combines various disciplines of gerontology and technology. Sustainability of an aging society depends on our effectiveness in creati ...

. He spent the majority of his career at the Institute of Perception Research, serving as its director from the mid-1970s until 1994. He subsequently led the Institute for Gerontechnology until 1999. A perceptual law, based on a publication of his in 1970 is named ''Bouma's Law'' in his honour.

Career

Bouma was born in

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The south ...

on 15 March 1934. He obtained a degree in physics from

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

and also partially studied medicine there. In 1959 Bouma started working for the Institute of Perception Research (Dutch:''Instituut voor Perceptie Onderzoek'', IPO), an institute of Philips Research and the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology (), Abbreviation, abbr. TU/e, is a public university, public technical university in the Netherlands, situated in Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its Bachelor of Science, BS ...

. In 1965 he obtained his PhD at Eindhoven University of Technology under

Jan Frederik Schouten Jan Frederik Schouten (29 May 1910 – 12 August 1980) was a Dutch physicist, and Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology, known for his contributions to biophysics. H. BoumaLevensbericht J.F. Schouten in: ''Jaarboek, 1980'', Amsterdam ...

with a thesis titled: ''"Receptive systems mediating certain light reactions of the pupil of the human eye"''. In 1968 Bouma became teamleader of visual research at the IPO. In 1975 or 1978 he became director of the IPO and served until 1994. After this position he was director of the Institute for Gerontechnology at Eindhoven University of Technology from 1994 to 1999. He also continued as a part-time professor at the university. On his retirement the Herman Bouma Fund for Gerontechnology was set up.

Research

Bouma's research on perception has focused on

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

. He specialized in reading processes and visual searching and also conducted work on

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

. In a famous paper in 1970 he laid the foundation to what is now called ''Bouma's Law''. Bouma further laid groundwork on the spectral dependency of the human pupillary response. His later work led to applications in the field of reading from displays. In 1990 Bouma started working in the field of

. Together with Jan Graafmans and Tony Brouwers, Bouma he has been called one of the inventors of the discipline of gerontechnology by J.E.M.H. van Bronswijk. Bouma devoted half of his output in journals to gerontechnology. Bouma was elected a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1992. The next year he was named a Knight in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouma, Herman 1934 births Living people Academic staff of the Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven University of Technology alumni Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Harderwijk Utrecht University alumni