Biography of Christine Ladd Franklin - Research Paper Example

? Christine Ladd Franklin s Christine Ladd Franklin, a that has been put down in the History of America. She was the first women psychologist and mathematician in the country. Christine Ladd, as she was called before her marriage, was the eldest of the three children born to Eliphalet Ladd and Augusta Niles. She was born on December 1st, 1847 in Windsor, Connecticut. She was nick named kitty. Christine had a younger brother named Henry Ladd and a younger sister called Jane Augusta Ladd McCordia. When Christine was just 12 years old her mother passed away. Christine had two half-siblings too, a brother named George Ladd and a sister called Katharine Ladd. At 15 she moved in with her paternal grandmother in Portsmouth, New Hampshire after her father remarried in 1862. While living with her grandmother she attended Wesleyan Academy in Massachusetts and graduated as a valedictorian in 1865. Christine wanted to study further but her father was against because it was a common belief then that mental activity “was harmful to a female’s well-being” (Lawson et al, 238). It required much persuasion on Christine’s part to gain permission to continue her studies. A year later she attended Vassar College, however owing to financial constraints she had to withdraw from the college. She started teaching in public schools and continued studying on her own. With the help of her aunt, Juliet Niles, Christine reentered Vassar College. She was primarily interested in physics however, she knew that the field was not open to women and hence she focused more on mathematics. She graduated from Vassar 1869. After graduation she took up teaching as a career. She taught the subjects of science and mathematics in various high schools in Washington, Pennsylvania etc for almost a decade. During this time period she published several of her mathematical works in The Analyst: A Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. She even submitted several mathematical problems and their solutions to the Educational Times, London. She also attended different courses at various colleges like Harvard, Washington College etc and kept her personal education thriving. After several years of teaching she wanted to dedicate herself to research and hence she applied directly to an English Mathematician James.J.Sylvester of St.Johns Hopkins’s university who took her in remembering her works that were published in the Educational Times. The university however gave the permission without knowing her gender and was against her when they got to know that the certain C.Ladd they had granted admission to, was actually a woman. Since St.Johns Hopkins was not co-educational, her admission news was kept hidden. They took steps to confine her to Mr. Sylvester’s lectures only. This did not affect Christine’s willingness to work hard and study. Soon enough her excellent performance paved way for her to attend lectures of other lecturers as well. Between 1879-1880, she studied under Charles Peirce at the University and it was under him that she became the first woman to be involved in the three disciplines of mathematics, logic and psychology. She also completed her dissertation under his tutelage. The University did not confer her with a PhD though all requirements were thoroughly met by 1882 since it did not believe in conferring awards to women. It was 44 years later in the year 1926 that she was finally recognized and awarded a PhD by the university. Christine Ladd married Fabian Franklin after finishing her work in St.Johns Hopkins and hence came to be known as Christine Ladd Franklin. They had two children, a son who died soon after birth and a daughter (Rothenberg, 305).Post marriage Christine worked hard and published several works. It is remarkable to see that her career in science developed with interest in physics and mathematics however soon after she started her career as the pioneer woman psychologist. Christine Ladd Franklin has been portrayed as a remarkable, hard-working, optimistic and dedicated woman who worked solely for the purpose of research. It did not affect her that she was not granted PhD in spite of meeting all the requirements and she dedicated her entire self to science alone. She was a woman of great substance who followed her dreams. Later on life she supported women education and empowerment and encouraged engagement of women in professorship positions in various colleges (Franklin, 53-61) and she hoped that women who had enough capability to make a successful career must be encouraged so that they do not end up becoming simple housewives. There were several sources of inspirations in Christine Ladd’s life and all the sources agree that Christine Ladd interest in studies and in science were because of two very important women in her life. Firstly from Furumoto’s biographical sketch of Christine Ladd Franklin we come to know that her mother and maternal aunt were advocates of women’s rights. Christine attended lectures about women’s rights (Furumoto, 176) from a very young age and thoughts about equality and women’s right “to be every place where a man should be” provided enough inspirations and courage for her to think about and proceed towards a career in scientific research against all kinds of societal forces which in those times did not pay enough heed to the educational growth of American women. Even during her Vassar years she attended her aunt’s lectures and perhaps this strengthened her to face the hardships she bore at St.Johns Hopkins’s later in life with much determination. Other influences in Christine Ladd’s life include her father who supported her education and husband who worked along with her after marriage and encouraged her works (Furumoto, 176).Another important influence that was not really mentioned in any publications was that of her teacher C.Peirce. Her works on color theory reflected his logic and her almost life-long association with him hints that she was an ardent follower of his theories; however, none of the sources can confirm this. According to O’Connel and Russo (p226) Maria Mitchell a well known and dedicated astronomer who was at Vassar College was the main source of inspiration for Christine’s deep interest in physics. Mitchell herself being an ambitious and accomplished woman encouraged Christine’s intentions of pursuing a career in science and cultivated a passion for the subject in Christine’s heart. Christine Ladd Franklin started her career in mathematics and logic however she worked with eminent researchers like German psychologist G.E Muller and Hermann von Helmholtz and revived her keen interest in experimental psychology and was particularly attracted by color vision for which she eventually dedicated 37 years of her life. After acquiring enough knowledge and attending lectures of Arthur Konig about the field she developed her own theory for color vision which she is best known for but which was accepted several years after she had proposed it. All of her contributions to the field of psychology are based on research about color vision. The initial paper on color vision was first published in 1887 in the very first issue of the American journal of psychology. Previously there were two theories for color vision- Helmholtz’s tri-chromatic theory and Ewald Hering’s opponent theory, both the opinions were divided “into these two utterly diverse explanations of the phenomena of color-vision, each of which took one half of the facts of color and wholly ignored the other half”(Furumoto,91)but Christine Ladd-Franklin’s “development theory of Color Vision” which was conceived in 1892 and she took into account evolutionary factors as well as derived explanations through mathematics and logic. She published a book called Color and Color Theories: Analysis of Perception (1929) explaining her color theories in explicit detail using figures, numbers, equations and logic. In her view the evolution processes of the eye from the achromatic and dichromatic senses were an indication of light-sensitive molecules in the retina of the eyes which had a photo-sensitivity range owing to the chemical make-up as suggested by Helmholtz and the molecules would also dissociate and associate as proposed by Hering’s opponent theory. Thus, Christine’s theory accommodated the previous theories too. She sought to bring together the material and psychological factors in color vision, where the retina’s sensitivity to different wavelengths of light and the perception ability of human eye to the unitary basic colors-blue, yellow, red and green, were important contributing factors. During this period women were still deterred from pursuing education at all. In fact eminent psychologists like George Romane were against the fact of women studying and believed that women with high mental powers were unhappy in life and were in much need of pity, but Christine Ladd-Franklin was always a women activist and opposed such theories stating that experiences and fallacious reasoning were not enough to propose such theories. In fact her personal experiences in such issues gave her more determination to pursue what she believed in. Since American women were stopped from pursuing education and becoming independent, Christine became a role model for many women who followed her foot steps and entered the field of psychology soon after. Her determination to change society’s view about woman could be seen in the fact that she became the first women lecturer at St.Johns Hopkins’s University in 1902. She also opposed Titchener’s decision to ban women from attending meetings of the Experimentalist group of psychologists. Thus, we can understand that Christine the first American woman psychologist helped women secure their position in the field. Laurel Furumoto is probably the most eminent biographers of Christine Ladd-Franklin and though he was in no way related to her, he carried on in-depth research work on her personal life, professional life and various works. He wrote several papers on her life, professional relations with researchers, professional rivalry, struggle and proposed theories. Elizabeth Scarborough, an experimental psychologist herself, is another biographer who worked in collaboration worth L.Furumoto researching about the life Christine Ladd Franklin in detail. Since none of Christine’s biographers were related to her, the portrayal of her biographical sketch is largely based on circumstantial evidence, letters and understanding. Thus, their assessment could not have been influences by any sort of personal connection with her. Christine’s biography reveals a lot about her but there are a few things that I would love to know in detail. Before entering John Hopkins’s university she spent nine years in teaching position and personal education. Not much detail has been covered by any source on this. Moreover, it is known that she published a few papers during this time frame but again little discussion has been made upon the topic. Again, I think more is needed on her stay in Germany where she actually developed her interest in color vision. However, Christine Ladd-Franklin’s life has been extraordinary where education and respect for women have played a pivotal role in her life. REFERENCES Franklin, C L. called Color and Color Theories: Analysis of Perception. London: Kegan Paul, Trench,Trubner & co., 1929. Print. Franklin, C L. "ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS FOR WOMEN." Publications of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae 3.9 (1904): 53-61.http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Ladd-Franklin/professorships.htm. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. Furumoto, L. "Christine Ladd-Franklin's Color Theory: Strategy for Claiming Scientific Authority?" Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 727 (1994): 91-100. Print. Furumoto, L. "Joining Separate Spheres: Christine Ladd-Franklin, woman scientist (1847-1930)." American Psychologist (1992): n. pag. Print. Lawson, Robert B, Jean E. Graham, and Kristin M. Baker. A History of Psychology: Globalization, Ideas, and Applications. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print. O'Connell, Agnes N, and Nancy F. Russo. Women in Psychology: A Bio-Bibliographic Sourcebook. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. Print. Rothenberg, Marc. History of Science in the United States: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, Incorporated, 2000. Print. Read More