Perley G. Nutting

{{Short description|American optical physicist (1873–1949)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Perley G. Nutting

| image = Portrait of Perley Nutting.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Perley Gilman Nutting

| birth_date = {{birth date|1873|08|22}}

| birth_place = Randolph, Wisconsin, US

| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|08|08|1873|08|22}}

| death_place =

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| fields = {{unbulleted list | Physics | Optics}}

| workplaces = {{unbulleted list | National Bureau of Standards | Eastman Kodak Company | Westinghouse Electric Company | United States Geological Survey}}

| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list | Stanford University | University of California, Berkeley | Cornell University}}

| doctoral_advisor =

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| notable_students =

| known_for = Founding the Optical Society of America

| awards =

| signature =

}}

Perley Gilman Nutting (1873–1949) was an American optical physicist and the founder of the Optical Society of America (OSA). He served as its first president from 1916 to 1917.{{cite news | title =JOSA Articles Published by Early OSA Presidents | publisher =Journal of the Optical Society of America | url =http://www.opticsinfobase.org/josa/journal/josa/20prez.cfm | access-date=February 21, 2009}} OSA is now known as Optica.

Born August 22, 1873, in Randolph, Wisconsin,{{cite journal |year=1950 |title=In Memoriam |journal=Journal of the Optical Society of America |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=404–405 |doi=10.1364/JOSA.40.000404 |issn=0030-3941}} Nutting was a graduate of Stanford University (BA, 1897), the University of California, Berkeley (MA, 1899), and Cornell University (PhD, 1903).{{cite encyclopedia |last=Devonis |first=David C. |year=2012 |title=Nutting, Perley G. |editor-last=Rieber |editor-first=Robert W. |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories |location=New York |publisher=Springer |page=742 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_109 |isbn=978-1-4419-0463-8}} He joined the National Bureau of Standards as a physicist in 1903.{{cite news | title =Dr. Perley G. Nutting | work =The New York Times | date =August 9, 1949 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1949/08/09/archives/dr-perley-g-nutting.html | access-date=February 21, 2009}} It is claimed that in 1904, Nutting constructed one of the earliest, if not the first, neon sign, which was displayed at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition; however, this story has been disputed.{{cite news | author =John N. Howard | author-link =John N. Howard | title =OSA's First Four Presidents | publisher =Optics & Photonics News | date =February 2009 | url =http://www.opnmagazine-digital.com/opn/200902/?pg=14 | access-date =February 21, 2009 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110728014656/http://www.opnmagazine-digital.com/opn/200902/?pg=14 | archive-date =July 28, 2011 | url-status =dead }}

In 1910, Nutting joined the staff of Eastman Kodak Company prior to the arrival of Kodak's first research director Kenneth Mees, in 1912.Journey: 75 Years of Kodak Research (Eastman Kodak, Rochester, 1989). He was the author of the 1912 book Outlines of Applied Optics, which called for an increased level of academic study in the applied optics field.{{cite news | title =Rush Rees and His University: 1900–1930 | publisher =University of Rochester | url =http://www.optics.rochester.edu/~stroud/BookHTML/ChapI_pdf/I_01.pdf | access-date=February 21, 2009}} In 1915, Nutting convened a series of meetings among Rochester, New York–based physicists that resulted in the founding of the OSA in January 1916.

Nutting moved from Kodak to Westinghouse Electric Company in 1917. In 1924 he returned to government work, moving to the United States Geological Survey where he remained until his retirement in 1943. He died August 8, 1949.

Nutting's son, Perley G. Nutting Jr., was the tireless grad student known as observer PGN for the demonstration of the MacAdam ellipse.{{cite news| title= Observers, Illuminants, Light Sources for Color Difference Calculations| url= http://www.colorpro.com/info/data/cie.html| access-date= May 29, 2009| archive-date= January 19, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090119064706/http://colorpro.com/info/data/cie.html| url-status= dead}}