Michael Bach (born 10 April 1950) is a German scientist who researches

ophthalmology Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

, clinical

electroencephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignal, bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in ...

, clinical

electroretinography Electroretinography measures the electrical responses of various cell types in the retina, including the Photoreceptor cell, photoreceptors (rod cell, rods and cone cell, cones), inner retinal cells (Retinal bipolar cell, bipolar and amacrine ce ...

visual acuity Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of visual perception, vision, but technically rates an animal's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity depends on optical and neural factors. Optical factors of the eye ...

testing, and

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 ...

. Bach is the creator of website ''Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena'', which began receiving over two million hits a day in 2005.

Life and work

Bach was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on 10 April 1950. In 1956, he moved with his family to

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, where he attended school. From 1970 to 1972, Bach completed an undergraduate degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

, then moved to the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

, where he studied for a Master's degree in physics. In 1975, he began a part-time position running an electronics workshop in the Department of Psychology, then became a full-time research assistant in the Department of Neurology in 1978. Bach was awarded his Master's in physics in 1977 and his PhD, also in physics, in 1981, on the

visual system The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to perception, detect and process light). The system detects, phototransduction, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to ...

. In 1981 he moved into a full-time position in the Department of Ophthalmology, rising to Professor in 1998, and being appointed as Head of Section Visual Function/Electrophysiology at the University Eye Hospital in 1999. After Bach's retirement in 2015 he became an Emeritus Scientist, continuing his research. In 1996, Bach began his service to the

International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, establishing, with others, standards for clinical

and

electrooculography Electrooculography (EOG) is a technique for measuring the corneo-retinal standing potential that exists between the front and the back of the human eye. The resulting signal is called the electrooculogram. Primary applications are in ophthalmo ...

, and becoming the society's president from 2004 to 2011.ISCEV Newsletter 2005
wildapricot.org In 1975, Bach married Ulrike Röhling. They have three adult children and one grandchild.

Awards

* 2006: Elfriede Aulhorn Prize * 2015: Adachi Award from the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV) * 2015: Augenstern Research Prize * 2017: Alumni Medal of the University Eye Clinic Munich * 2018: Honorary membership in the ISCEV

Research

Bach has conducted research in

, and

. One strand of his research has been to develop tests of

, using verbal responding or using brain activity. As of April 2025, Bach has published 388 scientific papers that have been cited 23446 times, giving him an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 70. According to Neurotree, Bach has 16 academic children and 44 academic grandchildren.

Illusions

Bach began his illusions web site as a hobby some time before 2005.Bach, M. (2008, July 1). Are we perceiving ‘true’ reality? Recreational neuroscience of vision ecture Leipzig University. He did not appreciate how popular the site was until he discovered that his internet service provider had suspended his account after it received more than one million hits per day. Bach upgraded his account and continued developing the site. As of April 2025, Bach's site contained 152 illusions, most interactive, and all with Bach's clear explanations. The site and Bach have won plaudits on the internet, in the news media, and in science journals. The site has also been used in scientific research into illusions.

Selected works

* * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Homepage of Michael Bach

* ttps://www.gwup.org/who-is-who/1845-michael-bach Profile from the Homepage of GWUP the German equivalent of The

Skeptics Society The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit, member-supported organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. The Skeptics Society was co-founded by Michael Sher ...

and the

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to " ...

Homepage of Bach's Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bach, Michael 1950 births 20th-century German biologists 21st-century German scientists German biophysicists German ophthalmologists Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Scientists from Berlin Vision scientists Optical illusions Living people