Matthew Luckiesh (pronounced loo’kish) [1] was an American physicist who made significant contributions to the field of colorimetry. In his day, he was known as the “Father of the Science of Seeing” [2].
Matthew was born on September 14, 1883, in Maquoketa, Iowa, in a Roman Catholic family to John and Frances Root Luckiesh and grew up in Cleveland. He graduated from high school in Maquoketa in 1899 at the age of 15. His parents were supportive of him attending college, but he was asked to find a way to pay for it. Luckiesh learned to play the trombone and even joined a circus. Around 1904, he got a job with a band in California and also began to work for the Yellow Pine Mining Company assessing mining claims [3]. He returned to Maquoketa and entered Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) in the fall of 1905. He transferred to Purdue University the next fall, earning his way through college playing his trombone, and graduated in 1909 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. In 1911, he received a Master of Science degree from the State University of Iowa and in 1912 the degree of Electrical Engineering from Iowa State College (Iowa State University).
After graduation, Luckiesh returned to Cleveland to start work for the General Electric Lamp Division at Nela Park in 1910, where he pursued research on light and vision. He became director of Applied Science in 1919 and director of the Research Laboratory in 1924, a position he held until his retirement in 1949. Luckiesh was married to Frances Clark in Maquoketa in 1913 who passed away in 1925 [4]. He then married Helen C. Pitts in 1928, and they had two daughters. Matthew Luckiesh passed away on November 2, 1967, in Shaker Heights, Ohio [5].
56.1 MAZDA Lamps
Luckiesh was a prolific writer and published 28 books and about 860 scientific and technical articles, as well as 11 US patents between 1911 and 1960 [5]. He developed several theories on color and its physiological effect on people. During World War I and World War II, he studied camouflage and airplane visibility, and later invented artificial sunlight and germicidal lamps.
MAZDA daylight and flametint lamps designed by Luckiesh [6]
In his 1944 book, Light, Vision and Seeing, and in collaboration with Frank Moss, Luckiesh discussed the development of a “Visibility Meter” based on determining brightness/contrast. The device consisted of a pair of similar photographic gradient filters, which increased in density when rotated together before the eyes. The filters thus reduced the apparent brightness of the observed field while lowering the contrast between the object of view and its background [7].
Luckiesh studied the lighting situation in the private and executive quarters of the White House in 1933, and determined the lighting to be inadequate. He specified new lighting arrangements, which resulted in increasing the light levels by 25–50 times their original values. One year later, President Roosevelt invited Luckiesh to examine the lighting situation in the study rooms of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. It was revealed that nearly 13% of the students that failed to graduate had defective vision despite having passed the vision test when they originally entered the program. Lighting was found to be inadequate and was therefore changed to include new portable lamps. Many universities and schools quickly followed suit [8].
Luckiesh was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Iowa State College in 1926 and Doctor of Engineering from Purdue University in 1935. He was the recipient of several awards and honors including the Distinguished Service Foundation of Optometry and the Illuminating Engineering Society, and the James H. McGraw Award for distinguished contributions to the advancement of the electrical industry [9].