in memoriam
Lucia Ronchi Rositani dies 15 May 2020, aged 92
Lucia Ronchi Rositani at AIC 2008 Stockholm
All Photographs: Courtesy Manuel Melgosa
It is with great sadness that I write to inform you that Prof. Dr. Lucia Ronchi Rositani passed on 15 May 2020. She had an exceptional career lasting seventy years, and natural charisma.
She held a PhD degree in Physics, with a thesis in Astronomy on the Milky Way (1948), and a Postdoctoral degree in Physiological Optics (1955). She was a scientific researcher and professor at the National Institute of Optics (INO) in Florence from 1956 until her retirement in 1992. She continued up-to-date research on colour vision and related matters, and her publication activity showed unbroken fervour until 2018.
Lucia Ronchi won the prestigious AIC Judd Award in 2011 for her contributions to physiological optics, colour vision and colour imaging science; for her research work on the theory, philosophy and history of science and scientific terminology; for her innate ability to raise awareness of colour as a complex and multidimensional concern; for her continuous and extensive work publishing, transmitting and communicating via the Italian magazine Luce e Immagini and the bi-monthly book series Atti della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi of the Giorgio Ronchi Foundation, since 1949 (Influenza del campo circostante alla mira sull’acuità visiva, Vol. 4); and for her imminent role in the scientific exchange between the Italian community and the world.
Outstanding work includes Lucia Ronchi’s La scienza della visione dal punto di vista delle scene naturali (The science of vision related to natural scenes, Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, vol. 88, Florence 2006). From Ronchi’s critical viewpoint, the usual study of a specific field feels like standing ‘on a razor blade’, any deviation being a risky enterprise. Underscored by her capacity to take up the latest findings and new approaches, her own approach of vision, including colour vision, is thereby a multidisciplinary one.
Ronchi’s scientific research approach implies 1) acquiring profound knowledge of previous experiments, theories and their respective critiques; 2) and also investigating, studying and specifying effects of circulating and advancing theories and devices yet unexplored. From her perspective, computer-aided experimental research led to ‘a stormy sea’, requiring further a revision and extension of the basic understanding of visual functionality, the modifications of traditional visual models, and the specification of the perceptual and physiological correlation of the visual system and the brain. According to her, natural scenes were the best ‘prototype’ to critically discuss and understand the complexity and vastness of visual stimuli, unexplored effects and concepts, as well as to develop a consistent theoretical concept of 'multidisciplinarity’.
Lucia Ronchi started attending international meetings on optics in 1952 (Coloquio Sobre Problemas Ópticos de la Visión, Madrid), and on colour in 1963 (VII Journées Internationales de la Couleur).
During the 1980s Lucia Ronchi began to play a key role in the leadership of the International Colour Association. In 1982 Lucia Ronchi attended an AIC meeting for the first time (AIC 1982 Budapest). In 1987 she organised the AIC Interim Meeting “Wyszecki-Stiles Memorial Symposium on Color Vision Models” in Florence, Italy. In 1988 she was elected AIC Vice President (1990–1993) and following this she served the AIC as its first female president (1994–1997). Since 1982 she has attended all AIC congresses and meetings. Special attention was given to her pivotal initiative to create a new study group on the Language of Colour (AIC 2009), which is still active today. Since 1975 she also represented Italy in the CIE sections, as a delegate of Division 1, and chair of Division 6. As well, she was an active member of the Associazione Ottica Italiana (AOI), which was a regular member of the International Colour Association up to 2010. Furthermore, she was a life member of the Colour Group (Great Britain) and an active member of the AIC Study Group on Environmental Colour Design.
She was President of the Giorgio Ronchi Foundation, which was established in 1945 by her father Vasco Ronchi, scientist, professor and founder of Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), to honour the memory of his son Giorgio (b.1931) killed in 1944 by "the very last German bomb to hit Florence." http://ronchi.isti.cnr.it
One of her last articles appeared in 2018, almost seventy years after her first:
RONCHI Lucia. The universe, the earth, the man, an abridged view of the evolution. Atti della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi 2018; LXXIII, 2:115-122,
http://ronchi.isti.cnr.it/index.php/atti-della-fondazione
I met Lucia Ronchi regularly at AIC congresses and meetings, and other international colour conferences. In 2008, at the Progress in Colour Studies (PICS) conference in Glasgow I said good-bye to her with an Italian "arrivederci", upon which followed an invitation to Florence in April 2009 to give a presentation on “A Way of Looking at Chromatic Studies for Urban Space” and another on “The Future is Green! On the Concept of Green and Greenery in Contemporary Architecture and Urban Culture” during a meeting of the Università Internazionale dell’Arte (UIA), Villa il Ventaglio. It was my first time delivering a talk in Italian. Lucia was a wonderful, generous host full of wit and vivacity. She will be greatly missed and always remembered.
My heartfelt condolences to her family, her two sons Niccolò and Curzio, and in particular, to her sister Laura Ronchi and her niece Margherita Abbozzo.
Verena M. Schindler
Chair of the AIC Study Group on Environmental Colour Design
Lucia Ronchi Rositani at AIC 2010 Mar del Plata
AIC Presidents at AIC 2007 Hangzhou (from left to right): José Luis Caivano (2006-2009), Paula Alessi (2002-2005), Mitsuo Ikeda (1998-2001), Lucia Ronchi Rositani (1994-1997), Alain R. Robertson (1990-1993)
Selected Bibliography
AIC Proceedings
RONCHI Lucia. Experimentation in color vision. Judd Award Lecture. AIC 2011 Interaction of Colour & Light in the Arts and Sciences, Midterm Meeting of the International Color Association, Zurich, Switzerland, 7–10 June 2011: Conference Proceedings, edited by Verena M. Schindler and Stephan Cuber. Zurich: pro/colore, 2011:32–37 https://www.aic-color.org/resources/Documents/aic2011proc-reduced.pdf
MELGOSA Manuel. Citation for the 2011 Deane B. Judd Award Presented to Prof. Lucia Ronchi. AIC 2011 Interaction of Colour & Light in the Arts and Sciences, Midterm Meeting of the International Color Association, Zurich, Switzerland, 7–10 June 2011: Conference Proceedings, edited by Verena M. Schindler and Stephan Cuber. Zurich: pro/colore, 2011:24–29 https://www.aic-color.org/resources/Documents/aic2011proc-reduced.pdf
…
Color Research and Application
Ronchi, L.R., Macii, R., Stefanacci, S.R. and Bassan, M. (1980), Brightness and Luminance of Light-Emitting Diodes: Influence of Size and Defocus. Color Res. Appl., 5: 207-211. https://doi.org/10.1002/col.5080050403
Ronchi, L.R. (1986), Successive heterochromatic brightness matches for a LED display. Color Res. Appl., 11: 164-168. https://doi.org/10.1002/col.5080110214
Ronchi, L.R. (1991), The purkinje effect: Some considerations on the interplay of receptoral and postreceptoral mechanisms. Color Res. Appl., 16: 10-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/col.5080160105
...
Giorgio Ronchi Foundation Monographies
http://ronchi.isti.cnr.it/index.php/monographies
11. L. R. Ronchi, G. Del Signore. Nuovi vocaboli nello studio della visione (1968), 154 pages
13. L. R. Ronchi, G. Del Signore. An annotated glossary of the terms used in electroretinography, 1) Healthy Human Eye (1969), 99 pages
14. L. R. Ronchi. Glossario dei termini usati nello studio della percezione della forma (1970), 204 pages
16. L. R. Ronchi, L. Giulio, M. Martelli. Glossario dei termini usati nello studio dei primi stadi del processo visivo (1971), 84 pages
18. L. R. Ronchi: An annotated bibliography on variability and periodicities of visual responsiveness (1972), 70 pages
20. L. R. Ronchi, M. Martelli, J. Verdina. An annotated glossary of the terms concerning human cortical visual evoked response (VER) (1972), 224 pages
21. G. Verriest, L. R. Ronchi, C. Castellini. Glossario dei termini usati nello studio delle deficienze della visione dei colori (1973), 72 pages
22. L. R. Ronchi, G. Salvi, F. Pedata. Glossario dei termini usati in elettroretinografia. Applicazioni cliniche ieri ed oggi (1973), 72 pages
24. L. R. Ronchi, F. Pedata. An annotated bibliography concerning human cortical visual evoked potential (1973), 82 pages
28. L. R. Ronchi, S. Stefanucci. An annotated bibliography on some aspects of glare (1974), 24 pages
29. L. R. Ronchi, S. Stefanucci. An annotated bibliography on some aspects of glare (1975), 44 pages
32. L. R. Ronchi. 150 years of rods and cones. An annotated bibliography (1975), 88 pages
33. L. R. Ronchi, R. Frosini. Sviluppo e applicazioni cliniche dell'elettrooculografia (1976), 84 pages
37. L. R. Ronchi, A. Bensi. Bibliografia annotata su alcuni aspetti del ritmo alfa nell'EEG umano normale (1976), 328 pages
40. L. R. Ronchi, L. Barca. Biological rythms and rythms of performance. An annotated bibliography (1977), 78 pages
67. L. R. Ronchi, M. Cetica. Appunti di colorimetria (1994), 94 pages
68. L. R. Ronchi. Exposure times in visual experiments (1994), 119 pages
69. L. R. Ronchi. Talking about color (1997), 308 pages
70. L. R. Ronchi, M. Voegelin. A proposito del tempo di reazione visuo-motore (1998), 114 pages
71. L. R. Ronchi. Visione e illuminazione alle soglie del 2000. Vol. I (2000), 176 pages
72. L. R. Ronchi: Visione e illuminazione alle soglie del 2000. Vol. II (2000), 206 pages
78. L. R. Ronchi, S. Rizzo. La ricerca di avanguardia vista dall'AIC nel terzo millennio. Parte I: L'uomo e l'ambiente (2003), 197 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-01-6
81. L. R. Ronchi. La ricerca di avanguardia vista dall'AIC nel terzo millennio. Parte II: Colore e linguaggio (2004), 118 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-05-4
84. L. R. Ronchi, C. Oleari, S. Rizzo. La ricerca di avanguardia vista dall'AIC nel terzo millennio. Parte III: il colore nell'arte e nel paesaggio visto dall'AIC (2004), 124 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-06-1
88. L. R. Ronchi. La scienza della visione dal punto di vista delle scene naturali (2006), 322 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-10-8
90. L. R. Ronchi. Il processo visivo nel III millennio (2007), 84 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-12-2
91. L. R. Ronchi. Il processo del colore nel XXI secolo (2007), 104 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-13-9
97. L. R. Ronchi, J. Sandford. The Excentric Blue (2009), 68 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-19-1
106. L. R. Ronchi, J. Sandford. Traditional vocabulary of Italian cuisine and of its colors (2010), 40 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-28-3
107. L. R. Ronchi. Color communication in Architecture dealt with by AIC from 1982 to 2008 (2010), 75 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-29-8
112. L. R. Ronchi. The visual balance between globality and interactions (2011), 148 pages, ISBN 978-88-88649-34-4
113. L. R. Ronchi. On the interacting visual and non-visual effects (2012), ISBN 978-88-88649-35-1
117. L. R. Ronchi. Experimentation on Color Vision, Psychophysical and Interacting with Color Language (2013), ISBN 978-88-88649-39-9
119. L. R. Ronchi. The Semantics of Color Sharing the Laboratory with Color Vision, Vol. II (2014), ISBN 978-88-88649-41-2
121. L. R. Ronchi. Lighting, color, environment and complexity: an abridged historical review (2015), ISBN 978-88-88649-43-6
123. L. R. Ronchi. Traditional Debates on light and color (2016), ISBN 978-88-88649-45-0
125. L. R. Ronchi. The ubiquitous noise (2016), ISBN 978-88-88649-47-4
Expressions of Condolence
Scomparsa di Lucia Ronchi Rositani
Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Firenze, Italia
https://www.ino.cnr.it
On behalf of and with my mother Laura Ronchi, we thank you very much for your kind words and for the great piece on Lucia Ronchi. It really does justice to her many achievements and to her life-long work.
She is very much missed. I enjoyed a true complicity with her and miss her sense of humour, her clever advice and simply her presence.
Margherita Abbozzo Firenze, Italy
Thank you for this heartfelt testimony of our great colour researcher Lucia Ronchi. It is a precious in memoriam.
Prof. Dr. Maria João Durão Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa; CIAUD Colour and Light Research Group Leader, Lisbon, Portugal
Thank you for sharing this. What a marvellous woman and such a contribution.
Fiona MacLachlan Professor of Architectural Practice, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
A beautiful obituary for someone I know you had the greatest respect. You indicated as well that you enjoyed a mutual friendship together and so my condolences to you on the loss of your friend.
Sanford Wurmfeld New York, NY, United States
I offer you my sincere condolences.
Ibrahim M. Elhady M. Elaraby Consultant architect, Master of Construction management, Color expert, Researcher, Lecturer
Grazie per le belle e sapienti parole che hai dedicato a Lucia Ronchi che anche io ho avuto la fortuna di conoscere e di apprezzare sia di persona, attraverso lunghe e cordiali telefonate.
Lia Luzzatto Colors & Colors, Milano, Italia
Solo poche righe per ringraziarla di aver ricordato Lucia Ronchi Rositani, una donna fuori dal comune, dal carattere forte e deciso (tanto che talvolta era difficile starle a fianco), capace di una generosità unica.
Mi fa piacere inviarle i link ad alcune immagini del mio allestimento con sculture luminose alla Biennale light art di Mantova del 2020. Nell'ultimo incontro con la professoressa avevamo discusso proprio di quello che avevo intenzione di fare alla mostra. Purtroppo non ho fatto in tempo a mostrarle quelle texture attraversate dalla luce che lei amava tanto.
I materiali sono, a seconda dei casi, resina epossidica o paraffina dura. Le sorgenti di luce sono led bianco dinamico (tunable white) 2500-6000 k° che effettuano variazioni da luce calda a luce fredda e viceversa, creando atmosfere prima oniriche e poi surreali e metafisiche.
Giuseppe Rosini
Firenze, Italia
https://www.instagram.com/giusepperosini
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w7I_3OeXkpI