Jan Evangelista Pukinje is credited with articulating a physiological phenomenon (now known as the Purkinje effect) that involves changes in visual perception. Specifically as the intensity of light decreases individuals perceive that red colored objects red objects fade faster than blue objects of equal brightness.

As a boy growing up in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), Jan Purkinje showed great promise. His father, an estate manager who encouraged his son's interests, died when Purkinje was six years old. At the age of ten, Purkinje, an only child, was admitted to a Piarist monastery (established in 1597 to educate the poor) near the Austrian border. Purkinje became a choirboy and outstanding student at the monastery, quietly studying for the priesthood. Just before he was to be ordained a priest, Purkinje decided to take up the study of philosophy at Prague University. While there, he became interested in medicine...