Back in about 1985, I heard a presentation by a professor at the University of Houston School of Optometry (I don't remember his name). He had done a great deal of research on night vision and optical illusions. That was his area of expertise. He said there was ample documentation about where the idea about using red lighting to protect your night vision came from. The red light for night vision was a hoax perpetrated by the Germans in WWII. The Germans "let this slip" and the allies switched their instruments to RED. The Germans continued using low level white in their aircraft and subs. Red light was great for developing film... but that's not the issue here. Research back in the late 70's and early 80's has shown that low level white light is much better source of illumination for charts and instruments. Modern aircraft use the low level white because of this recent "discovery." In fact, red is a poor light source and as the body (eye) ages, ones red detection diminishes. It goes from bad to worse the older you get. Robert *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jul 02 1998 - 07:27:35 PDT
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