Herchel W. Leibowitz - State College, Pennsylvania - Dedicated Benches on Waymarking.com

William P. Buffington - State College, Pennsylvania



This is one of two benches located outside of the Rodney A. Erickson Science Building the University Park (Main) campus of the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Centre County

This bench is outside of the Penn State Berkey Creamery, a tradition of Penn State University since had its recent renovation in 2006 with the construction of the $46 Million Rodney A. Erickson Building on the Campus.

This bench is dedicated toScholar, educator, and philanthropist Herschel Leibowitz is widely recognized for his research in visual perception and for his symbiotic approach to conducting research that both advanced theory and helped in the understanding and relief of societal problems. His research on transportation safety included studies of nearsightedness during night driving, vision during civil twilight, an illusion that underlies the behavior of motorists involved in auto-train collisions, susceptibility of pilots to illusions caused by visual-vestibular interactions, and the design of aircraft instrument panels.

He returned to academia in 1962 as a member of the Department of Psychology at The Pennsylvania State University where he was named Evan Pugh Professor in 1977. He retired from Penn State in 1995. By the time of his retirement in 1995 Leibowitz had published more than 250 articles in scientific journals and had been recognized as one of the most influential researchers in perception (White, 1987). He was also a tireless advocate for psychological science. Once when offering testimony to a Congressional committee, Leibowitz pointed out that the military was investing less annually in human factors research than the cost of a single aviation mishap despite the fact that the military was blaming many such mishaps on human error. His extended family of former graduate students and colleagues gathered in State College on several occasions for LeiboFest celebrations of science, friendship, and mentorship. The book “Visual Perception: The Influence of H.W. Leibowitz” was written by his students and close colleagues in 2002; the book contains pearls of wisdom that continue to prove useful. In general, Leibowitz enjoyed bringing into the laboratory the visual challenges that are routinely faced by people in highly demanding situations.

Leibowitz also became an avid runner; he was 50 when he completed the first of his 15 marathons.