[visionlist] Ol Braddick (1944-2022)

Mon Jan 24 17:52:44 -04 2022

Jan Atkinson asked me to post a short memorial notice for Oliver Braddick.
[A picture containing person, wall, person, indoor    Description automatically generated]Oliver 'Ol' Braddick died peacefully at home in Oxford on January 17th , following an unexpected and brief period of illness due to cancer. Oliver was a accomplished and insightful scientist who made significant contributions to vision research over a period of five decades. He obtained his undergraduate and PhD (1968) degrees at Trinity College, Cambridge and did a post-doc with Lorrin Riggs at Brown. He had strong interests in basic visual processes. One major stream of his work concerned motion perception. Indeed, his most cited paper is a 1974 article on short-range and long-range apparent motion. The other great theme of Braddick's research was visual development. Starting at the Cambridge Visual Development Unit in the 1970's, this work was the product of a decades-long collaboration with his wife, Jan Atkinson. In the 1990s, they moved to University College of London. By the 21st century, he was based at Oxford. Together, Jan and Ol did pioneering work on the development of basic visual and visuo-motor function in infants and children testing thousands of infants and children, working to help reduce or prevent strabismus and amblyopia and to understand developmental disorders such as autism, Williams syndrome, and perinatal brain injury.  They were particularly interested in the relationship of the dorsal and ventral cortical streams, hypothesizing that ‘dorsal stream vulnerability’ underpinned deficits in motion perception, planning of actions and visual attention.
Braddick also played a significant role in British academic Psychology. He was Head of the UCL Department and of the Oxford Department for many years. He even served as interim Head at Cambridge for a year. Together with Atkinson, he directed the Visual Development Units in Cambridge, Oxford and UCL. Among his honors, Ol was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2001) and as a fellow of British Academy (2012).
Ol was a loving husband to Jan and the devoted father of Fleur, Hugo, Lorrin and Ione and grandfather of 7 grandchildren and one grand-nephew. Jan and Ol were almost always to be found together at scientific meetings, such as ARVO, VSS and ECVP,  sometimes accompanied by an entourage of children and grandparents. The Braddick-Atkinson households in Cambridge, London and Oxford were at least as boisterous and intellectually stimulating as the Psychology departments that Ol served. He will be greatly missed in all these settings.
Jeremy Wolfe

Jeremy M Wolfe, PhD
Professor of Ophthalmology & Radiology,
Harvard Medical School

Visual Attention Lab
Department of Surgery
Brigham & Women's Hospital

900 Commonwealth Ave
3rd floor
Boston, MA  02215

Phone:  617-525-3680

Best email: jwolfe at bwh.harvard.edu<mailto:jwolfe at bwh.harvard.edu>
Backup: jeremywolfe0131 at gmail.com<mailto:jeremywolfe0131 at gmail.com>
URL: search.bwh.harvard.edu<http://search.bwh.harvard.edu/>

Editor: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (CRPI)
CRPI is the open access, peer-reviewed journal of the Psychonomics Society
Do you do "use-inspired, basic research" in Cognition? That is what we publish.
http://www.cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/

Jeremy M Wolfe, PhD
Professor of Ophthalmology & Radiology,
Harvard Medical School

Visual Attention Lab
Department of Surgery
Brigham & Women's Hospital

900 Commonwealth Ave
3rd floor
Boston, MA  02215

Phone:  617-525-3680

Best email: jwolfe at bwh.harvard.edu<mailto:jwolfe at bwh.harvard.edu>
Backup: jeremywolfe0131 at gmail.com<mailto:jeremywolfe0131 at gmail.com>
URL: search.bwh.harvard.edu<http://search.bwh.harvard.edu>

Editor: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (CRPI)
CRPI is the open access, peer-reviewed journal of the Psychonomics Society
Do you do "use-inspired, basic research" in Cognition? That is what we publish.
http://www.cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/

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