Ninth Edition CoverGraziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)

Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930) shared with other women the degrading experiences of prejudice in a male-dominated professional world. She graduated in 1870 from a new college for women, Vassar, with her undergraduate degree in science and mathematics. After teaching in secondary schools for ten years, Ladd-Franklin studied at Johns Hopkins University, where in 1882, she completed all requirements for the PhD in mathematics. However, Johns Hopkins, like Harvard University, refused to grant Ph.D. degrees to women. It would not be until 1926, forty-four years later, that Ladd-Franklin was finally awarded the doctorate at the age of 79.

In the meantime, however, Ladd-Franklin published several papers in mathematics and then began to work on her new interest, visual perception. In 1891 and 1892, she studied in the prestigious labs in Germany of Mueller and Helmholtz. Her research and theory in color vision were major contributions, which influenced the field of perception for decades. 

Despite her significant research, Ladd-Franklin was never able to obtain a research position at a major university. She was allowed, instead, to work part-time at Johns Hopkins and later at Columbia, seldom being paid for her work (Goodwin, 1999).

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