Aspects of Motion Perception

Paul A. Kolers died of lung cancer in Toronto on January 27, 1986. He was born August 14, 1926, in New York City and obtained his BA degree from Queen's College in 1951, and his PhD degree from New York University in 1957. After holding several teaching and research positions, including posts at Bell Labs, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto in 1970, a position he held until his death. Kolers's intellectual interests were wide ranging, both within psychology and across neighboring disciplines. He was deeply committed to the world of ideas--a commitment that made him a stimulating colleague, but often made him impatient with lines of work he considered misguided. His penetrating critical abilities were expressed in acerbic commentaries on various "information-processing" approaches. His own thinking was independent, but was connected to important historical streams in philosophy and psychology; he was an ingenious experimentalist and a creative theorist. In social situations he was a warm and amusing companion.