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A leader of the team that developed the Optacon, James C. Bliss also pioneered the Versabraille computer, Speech-Plus talking calculator, Vista screen enlargement systems, Versapoint Braille printer, OsCar optical character recognition system, and a successful family of closed circuit television viewing systems (CCTVs). Most recently his research on reading technologies for people with low vision has led to production of the VIP (Versatile Image Processor). Dr. Bliss has academic degrees from Northwestern University (BS '56), Stanford University (MS '58) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD '61) and was associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford and manager of the Bioinformation Systems Group at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
Lewis: Dr. Bliss, how did you get involved in developing technological solutions for people who are blind?
Bliss: Actually, it was somewhat accidental. After finishing my master's degree in electrical engineering at Stanford, I received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation that would allow me to obtain a doctorate in circuit theory at MIT. When I arrived at MIT, however, I discovered that the professor who I had hoped would be my thesis advisor had switched his research interest to the application of electrical engineering to the problems of blind people. I also became interested in this subject after meeting a research associate at MIT who had been blinded in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. After completing my doctoral thesis, "Communication via the Kinesthetic Sense," I returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, started a research group at SRI International to study the visual and tactile senses, and become an associate professor in electrical engineering at Stanford. Professor John G. Linvill, the chair of my department, had a daughter who was blind.
He and I joined forces to develop his idea for a reading aid for blind people. We obtained support from several government and private sources to fund the development of what was to become the Optacon (for Optical-to-Tactile Converter).
About ten prototypes (no two alike) of the Optacon were built in Stanford and SRI laboratories. Professor Linvill's daughter was the first person to learn to read with the Optacon; it proved helpful in her studies at Stanford. Several other Stanford students and members of the community also learned to...