Bela Julesz

Born 1928 in Budapest, Hungary.

Died 2003

Béla Julesz was a visual neuroscientist and experimental psychologist in the fields of visual and auditory perception. He was the originator of the computer generated Random-Dot Stereoimage technique and of the method of studying texture discrimination by constraining second-order statistics.

Member of institution(s): Bell Laboratories

Cited in: The Beginnings of Computer Art in the United ..., White Heat Cold Logic : British Computer Art ..., Computergraphik Computerkunst, The Summer 1968 in London and Zagreb: Startin..., Reputations Made And in Making, Beckmann's Studio Computers Specified for Ear..., Visual Intelligence: The First Decade of Comp...

1950 Diploma in Electrical Engineering at the Technical University, Budapest, Hungary.
1956 Phd. (researched in network theory, microwave systems and television signals) from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary and emigrated to USA.

1956 Joined the AT&T, Bell laboratories, New Jersey, USA, where his research focused on physiological psychology topics including depth perception and pattern recognition within the visual system.
1960 Designed the “random-dot stereograms” – paired images that are individually meaningless, yet form a coherent 3-D picture when viewed simultaneously, one by each eye.
1964-82 Head of the Sensory and and Perceptual Processes Department, Bell laboratories, New Jersey, USA.
1965 Participated in the the art exhibition “Computer-Generated Pictures” with Michael Noll at the Howard Wise gallery, New York displaying Computer generated stereograms and textures.
1971 Published the book ‘ Foundations of Cyclopean Perception’.
1983 Awarded the MacArthur Fellowship (“genius award”) for his work in Experimental Psychology and Artificial Intelligence.
1983-1989 Head of the Visual Perception Research Department, Bell laboratories, New Jersey, USA.
1985 Awarded the Dr. H. P. Heineken Prize by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1987 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA.
1989 Received the Karl Spencer Lashley Award by the American Philosophical Society.
1989 Retired from Bell Labs and established the Laboratory of Vision Research at the Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Jersey.

1982-1991 Neurosciences Associate of the Neurosciences Institute.
1994 Published the book, ‘Dialogues on Perception’.

He also served as visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Western Australia, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and the University of California-Berkeley.

An extensive list of his publications and patents can be found here.