Selig Hecht

(1892-1947) lived in Omaha. Physiologist, educator, was a pioneer in the development of general physiology and a major contributor to modern vision theory, best remembered for his photochemical theory of visual adaptation; established in 1928 a biophysics laboratory at Columbia University, where among many of his gifted students was eventual Nobel Prize winner George Wald, elected to National Academy of Sciences in 1944. Consult New York Times obituary, September 19, 1947, p. 23 and National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, Vol 60 (1991) 81-100 and Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists, 2nd ed, Vol 1 (1995) 398 and American National Biography, Vol 10 (1999) 484-485.

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