European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse                                O a t u r Section reducing the Handicap of color blindness research by a Navy expert is opening new service Fields to men who can t see red by Paul Spiers staff writer Farnsworth uses the test device that bears his name. If you re color Blind you be gota True Blue Friend in  Farns wort h of the office of naval research i London. The 57-year-old officer an expert on Colo vision has worked for Many years to con Vince the Navy that color Blind service men need not be disqualified from Genera service. A continuing aim is to get the color Blind into the specialized services so that a great  Pool will note  As chief of the visual engineering Branch . Naval medical research lab oratory new London conn., from 1943-57, he never made the headlines. Yet his accomplishments were of extreme value tothe military services. His work included recommendations for the habitability of atomic submarines introduction of red for lifesaving equipment developing Standard aircrew Sun glasses for the Navy and air Force advocating control codes other than by color and a test that enables the Navy to use mild color defectives in the specialized services Suchias aviation and submarines. Color blindness testing in the Navy prior to 1943 was a haphazard affair according to Farnsworth the charts could be memorized and the tests were Given in varying ways and under varying illuminations. He devised a new plate test in 1943, and 25 copies were kept under lock and key at major Navy centers to prevent memorization by applicants. The test which determines that eight per cent of men Are color Blind is still used. However Farnsworth strongly believed that some of this eight per cent could be utilized in the specialized services and sought a More precise test for degrees of color blindness. To and his colleagues began research on a More precise test in 1944. The first Model of the Farnsworth lantern was built in 1945 and after four Model changes it officially became Stan Dard in 1955. What this test did Farnsworth says was to show that under existing conditions five per cent Are automatically Dis qualified for the special services the other three per cent color milds Are passed for specialized services. The three per cent that has been salvaged is not an inconsiderable figure. Bui the five per cent is still an enormous waste of  throughout his career Farnsworth has sought to induce military and civilian engineers to eliminate color codes on equip ment such As control panels. If this can be done he says we can use the other five Oer cent in All branches of the service. However if this can t be done then we Hope the engineers will at least use the few colors that color defectives can deter mine. They Are Black White Gray yellow Blue and Brown. In the past red Amber and Green have been the standards. Unfortunately these Are the ones most confused by color defectives. We re doing our Best to get engineers to think of some other Means than Colo coding. It s gradually coming. Other methods of color coding Are size shape position. Immediately after world War ii we introduced controls other than color i submarines he added. A major contribution by Farnsworth and his colleagues concerned detectability of survival gear at sea. Yellow has always been thought of Ashe Best color. , we discovered an interesting peculiarity of the Eye in 1943 the very Center of the Eye is yellow an Blue Blind. If you re looking at a speck of some thing in the water and a Man in a life jacket is that believe me he looks like speck of White foam. We did two years of exhaustive Fiel studies. We never had an observer Able to select yellow it looked White. Blu looked White or Gray. Only Green or red were seen. We recommended in november 1953 that All air sea Rescue equipment be made in red. Then a permanent fluorescent was developed and we recommended in may1955 that All survival gear be ordered in fluorescent red. It now has department of defense approval. What this project really meant is thata Man stands a Chance of being seen in appreciably less time. A psychological Impact of the new color is that it gives a Man Confidence. If he s out there in the sea he thinks they can fail to see me it was a very expensive project. But if it saves the life of one Man it was Worth  Chart called the Nickerson color fan reveals defects in color perception subject is Given japanese color test by the Navy researcher. Wednesday a Aust 5, 1959 the stars and stripes Page ii fl.,1.4,8