Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930) was a mathematician, psychologist and suffragette feminist who fought to remove the barriers that prevented women from entering 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.

Next we will see a biography of Christine Ladd-Franklin , a psychologist who not only developed important scientific knowledge, but also fought to guarantee the access and participation of women 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 brothers, children of Eliphalet and Augusta Ladd.** Her mother was a militant suffragette** who died when Christine was young, so Ladd-Franklin ended up moving with her aunt and paternal grandmother to New Hampshire.

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

From the very beginning, Christine Ladd-Franklin was highly motivated by research and science . At Vassar College, she was trained together with Maria Mitchell, a well-known American astronomer who already had an important international reputation.

For example, she is the first woman to have discovered a new comet through a telescope, and she 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 suffragette, who greatly inspired Ladd-Franklin in her professional and scientific development.

Christine Ladd-Franklin was particularly interested in physics, but due to the difficulties of pursuing a career as a researcher in this area, she moved towards mathematics . And then, towards 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 having stood up strongly to the policies of exclusion of women in the new American universities, as well as to those who defended those policies.

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

At the same time, he sent a scholarship application to that university, signed “C. Ladd”, and along with an excellent academic record. She was admitted, until the committee discovered that the letter “C”, was for “Christine”, and they were on the verge of cancelling 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 having coined the terms “matrix” and the theory of algebraic invariants. Along with him, Christine Ladd-Franklin was trained in mathematics. On the other hand, was trained in symbolic logic by Charles S. Peirce , one of the philosophers who founded pragmatism. Christine Ladd-Franklin who became the first American woman to receive a formal education with these scientists.

He finished his 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. Nevertheless, and under the argument that coeducation was not typical of 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, his degree was finally recognized.

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

Likewise, Christine Ladd-Franklin protested in an important way the refusal of the British psychologist Edward Titchener to admit women to the Society of Experimental Psychologists that he had founded as an alternative option 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 with Fabian Franklin, where she developed her research in color vision. Initially 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 with Hermann von Helmholtz, a physicist and philosopher who was a pioneer in physiological psychology.

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

Ladd-Franklin color vision theory

During the 19th century there were two main theories about color vision, which are still valid, at least in part, today. 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 colours: red-green, yellow-blue and black and white; and he studied how the photosensitive reaction of the nerves ensures that we can perceive them .

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

In very broad terms, Christine Ladd-Franklin managed to unite the two great theoretical proposals of color vision in an evolutionary photochemical hypothesis. Specifically she described the process of action of ether waves on the retina ; understood 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 continued to this day, especially the emphasis he placed on the evolutionary factor of our color vision.

Bibliographic 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.