Many members of CVNet have inquired about Hans over the years and will want
to be informed of his recent death. The following is a press release from
Swarthmore College.
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Hans Wallach, a retired Swarthmore College psychology professor and
a major contributor to the field of visual and auditory perception and
learning, died on Thursday, February 5. A resident of the Manchester House
nursing home in Media, Wallach was 93.
Wallach in 1986 was elected to the National Academy of Science, one
of the most prestigious American honors in science. His research on
perceptual adaptation advanced the field's understanding of the role of
learning in the perceptual process. In addition, he was credited with
discovering the basic psychological principle that makes stereophonic
reproduction possible, and he was known for his study of the nature of
neutral colors. Wallach published more than 100 papers in his career.
The American Psychological Association gave Wallach the
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 1983, citing both his
research and the indirect contribution he made through the many students he
taught who went on to become important scholars in the field.
"The excitement of his intellect and the promise of his warm
support figured prominently in why I and many young faculty were drawn to
Swarthmore," said College President Alfred H. Bloom, who taught in the
Psychology Department from 1974 to 1986. "His combined dedication to fine
teaching and significant research exemplify the mission of this community,
and his achievements in uncovering the dynamics of the human perceptual
systems stand among Swarthmore's most distinguished contributions to
science."
Wallach, born in Berlin, Germany, received his Ph. D. from the
University of Berlin in 1934. As he wrote in an informal biography, he
received his degree under unusual circumstances. "Being Jewish, I knew that
I had eventually to leave Germany and had better hurry getting my Ph. D.,"
he wrote. "I wrote a thesis about some ... phenomena I had earlier
discovered and prepared for examinations. A year later, my thesis was
accepted and, not well prepared, I took my orals. I shall never forget the
kindness of (two professors) who, aware of my precarious situation, allowed
me to pass."
In 1936, Wallach came to Swarthmore as a research associate, a
position he held until 1942, when he became an instructor. He was promoted
to assistant professor in 1944, to associate professor in 1948, and to full
professor in 1953. In 1971, he was named Centennial Professor of
Psychology. He chaired the Psychology Department from 1957 to 1966. Wallach
retired from the active faculty in 1975 but continued his work as a
research associate until 1987.
A member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 1954
to 1955, Wallach won numerous awards and fellowships during his career.
Among them, he was a Guggenheim Fellow from 1949 to 1950, a visiting
professor at the New School for Social Research from 1947 to 1957 and again
in 1968, and the 1987 winner of the Howard Cosby Warren Medal of the
Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Barry Schwartz, associate provost and professor of psychology at
Swarthmore, said Wallach and his research had a major impact on the
College. "Not only did he train scores of undergraduates, giving many of
them a taste of the excitement, creativity, and brilliance of scientific
work at its best, but he gave his colleagues a standard of excellence to
which they could aspire, and a model of how it was possible simultaneously
to be a serious and important research scientist and a dedicated teacher.
It was Hans' example that inspired many of his colleagues in the Psychology
Department, and perhaps other departments as well, to stay at Swarthmore
and do university-quality research while teaching at a liberal arts
college."
Wallach is survived by his son, Karl, of Swarthmore, and numerous
nieces and nephews. His wife, Phoebe Kasper Wallach, died in 1968.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made
to a fund established in Professor Wallach's memory at Swarthmore College
that will support a variety of scholarly pursuits in psychology. No
services are planned.
Department of Psychology
Swarthmore College
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081, USA