Gertrude Rand

Marie Gertrude Rand Ferree (October 29, 1886 – June 30, 1970) was an American research scientist who is known for her extensive body of work about color perception. Her work included "mapping the retina for its perceptional abilities", "developing new instruments and lamps for ophthalmologists", and "detection and measurement of color blindness". Rand, with LeGrand H. Hardy and M. Catherine Rittler, developed the HRR pseudoisochromatic color test.

While working at Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she acquired patents for lighting devices and instruments, and worked on the lighting of the Holland Tunnel between New York and New Jersey. In 1912, Rand received the Sarah Berliner Research Fellowship from the Association of Collegiate Alumnae which became the American Association of University Women. She was the first female fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society and received a Gold Medal award from that society in 1963. Gertrude became member number 159, the second woman member of Optica (formerly The Optical Society (OSA)). In 1959, Rand joined Christine Ladd-Franklin, Charlotte Moore Sitterly, Dorothy Nickerson, Louise L Sloan, and Mary E Warga as the five women part of the first Optica Fellow class.

and was one of only five women members of the first Optica Fellow class. In 1959, she became the first woman to receive the Optical Society of America's Edgar D. Tillyer Medal.

Early life and education Rand was born on October 29, 1886, in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Lyman Fiske Rand, was the manager of a manufacturing company. Rand graduated from the Educated Girls High School in Brooklyn in 1904 At Bryn Mawr, Rand's research focused on developing techniques for measuring the light sensitivity and color discrimination of different parts of the retina. She and her husband Ferree created a map of the retina known as the Ferree-Rand perimeter.

Death Rand died on 30 June 1970.