Al Seckel

Al Seckel (1958 - ) is the world's leading authority on visual and other types of sensory illusions and how they relate to perception. Seckel extensively collects, researches, and experiments with illusions to understand what conditions are necessary for them to work. Illusions can provide a wonderful window into how the brain works by revealing hidden underlying mechanisms in a way that normal perception fails to do. He is particularly interested in understanding the neuronal correlates of visual and other types of sensory illusions, that is, how they can be explained in terms of the electrophysiology and neuroanatomy of the retinal and cortical networks that mediate visual perception. Seckel has specialized in the following areas:

Brightness Perception, Recovery of 3D from 2D, Size and Distance Perception, Cross-Modal Illusions

Books

Seckel is best known as the author of best-selling and award winning books on visual illusions. Titles include: The Art of Optical Illusions, Carlton Books, 2000 and More Optical Illusions, Carlton Books, 2002 (these two books were sublicensed by Carlton Books (UK) to Firefly Books (Canada) and put together as a bindup volume under the title The Great Book of Optical Illusions, Firefly Books 2002 (UK distribution under the title The Fantastic World of Optical Illusions, Carlton Books, 2002). These books have the distinction of publishing for the first time many recently discovered illusions and explanations from the laboratories of vision scientists, as well as from relatively unknown artists who have incorporated obvious visual illusions into their artwork. These books became instant and continual bestsellers, and have won several prestigious awards. In 2001, The Art of Optical Illusions, won the prestigious "Best Book for Young Adults" award. Seckel, however, was unhappy with the books themselves, because the Carlton editors had randomly edited his textual explanations, and thereby removed a good deal of the scientific content from the book. Seckel believed that the scientific process that governs why they work was the interesting part -- not just the AHA! The two original Carlton titles have been translated into numerous languages including, among others, German, Korean, Russian, Hungarian, Polish, and Chec. In 2003, Arturus Publishing issued a more adult-oriented book entitled Incredible Visual Ilusions.

Seckel followed these titles with his most popular book Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali, and the Artists of Optical Illusion, Sterling Books, 2004. This high quality book features the works of a prominent group of international visual illusion artists such as Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593), Salvador Dali (1904-1989), Sandro Del-Prete (1937-), Jos De Mey (1928 -), M.C. Escher (1898-1972), Shigeo Fukuda (1932-), Robert Gonsalves ( 1959 -), Mathieu Hamaekers (1954-), Scott Kim (1955-), Akiyoshi Kitaoka (1961-), Ken Knowlton (1931-) Guido Moretti (1947 -), Vik Muniz (1961-), Octavio Ocampo 91943 -), Istvan Orosz (1951 -), John Pugh (1957 -), Oscar Reutersvard (1915-2001), Roger Shepard (1929-), Dick Termes (1941-), and Rex Whistler (1905-1944). Pulitzer Prize winner Douglas Hofstadter wrote the preface. Many of the works of these artists appear in this volume for the first time. A second volume of visual illusion artists will be released by Sterling Books in 2007.

Seckel has also written a series of optical illusion picture books for children under the Super Vision series by Sterling Books. These titles include Ambiguous Illusions 2005, Action Optical Ilusions 2005, Impossible Optical Illusions 2005, Geometric Optical Illusions 2005, Stereo Optical Illusions 2006, Topsy-Turvy Optical Illusions 2006, Hidden Images 2006, Wacky Pictures 2006, Composite Images 2006. In addition to these titles, University Games published a black and white book for very young children entitled Armchair Puzzlers: Optical Teasers (2004). This work was also incorporated into a large compilation by University Games entitled The Oversized Book of Baffling Armchair Puzzlers.

In 2006, Seckel greatly revised his Great Book of Optical Illusions by adding a comprehensive preface material as well as expanding and updating all the scientific explanations. New illusions were also added. This book will be released in the fall of 2006 as Optical Illusions: The Science Of Visual Perception, Firefly Books, 2006. It is by far the best and most comprehensive book on illusions published to date.

Seckel is also writing and developing a comprehensive academic treatise on the science of visual illusions and perception for The MIT Press, entitled Your Mind's Eye: An Interactive Journey through Perception. This university-level book will contain an interactive CD rom featuring hundreds of interactive applets, where the user can manipulate various critical parameters behind each illusion.

He has a monthly column on illusions in National Geographics KIDS magazine.

Seckel has also edited two collections of articles on the English philosopher Bertrand Russell. Bertrand Russell on God and Religion, Prometheus Press, 1986, and Bertrand Russell on Ethics, Sex, and Marriage, Prometheus Books, 1987. These are part of the Great Books in Philosophy Series put out by Prometheus Press. He also edited a compilation of articles on Science and Pseudoscience, and one of his articles was published in Not Necessarily the New Age, Prometheus Books, 1989. His article on "Bertrand Russell and the Cuban Missile Crisis" was published in the German edition of Russell's Unarmed Victory.

Seckel's Influence on the Field of Visual Perception

Seckel is the one of the first scientists to rigorously apply multimedia tools to the study of visual illusions, breaking down their components and thus revealing, in a surprising way, the hidden constraints of the human/perceptual process in a way that normal processes do not. Since 1992, he has developed breakthrough tools and applets that allow one to change critical parameters in illusions. In this fashion, Seckel discovered many of the underlying rules that govern visual perception. Seckel traveled throughout the world to visit vision scientists, artists, magicians, and others, in order to collect illusions for study. To this day, his illusion collection is unrivaled.

In 1994, Seckel designed and put up for free display the first interactive web site on illusions (www.illusionworks.com). The visitor could freely interact with illusions. The applets, at that time, were far beyond what people had seen before, and the site became extremely popular, consistently being rated as one of the ten most popular sites on the web, and was second only to Playboy.com in amount of individual user traffic. Unfortunately, because of excess bandwidth traffic, coupled with Seckel's insistence that the site remain free of commercial advertising, the site cost Seckel literally thousands of dollars for upkeep, and he had to remove it. In addition, he was vexed by the vast amount of theft, where unscrupulous visitors would download applets and copyrighted images, and then upload them elsewhere on the web without credit. Since then, there has been a tremendous renaissance of internet web sites that feature interactive illusion applets and demonstrations, many of whom owe their genesis and inspiration to Seckel's original site.

Seckel's popular books, which have sold in the hundreds of thousands, have also stimulated many young adults into the field of visual perception, and thus have been very beneficial to the study of brain science.

Seckel continues to promote the field of visual science by sponsoring the "Best Visual Illusion of the Year" contest for the vision science community, where scientists and artists, compete for cash prizes and awards, to create the most intriquing new visual illusion. It is hoped that these contests will further the cause of visual science. In 2005, Seckel was one of the judges in the first "Best Visual Illusion of the Year" contest held in A Corona, Spain at the European Conference on Visual Perception.

Influences on Magic

Seckel's work has been extremely interesting to the magic community. Scores of famous magicians have consulted and visited with him, including among others David Copperfield, David Blaine, Max Mavin, Mark Setteducatti, Ivan Moscovich, Jamie Swiss, Andrew Goldenhurst, Mark Wilson, Lennart Green, etc.

Lectures on Illusions

Seckel has lectured extensively on illusions all over the world and at many of the world's most prestigious universities and venues, including Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Cornell, Boston University, Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of London, UC, Berkeley, UCSD, UCLA, UCI, Aspen Center for Physics, Argonne National Laboratory, New England Bio Labs, University of Rome, University of Utrecht, University of Lund, ETH, Switzerland, Museum of Science, London, among others. He has also lectured twice at the prestigious TED conferences in Monterey, CA, and is a popular lecture at the Gathering for Martin Gardner. He was an invited lecture at the 100th anniversary of M.C. Escher's birth in Rome in 1998.

Science Galleries

Seckel enjoys stimulating the public's awareness of illusions and perception, by designing and building interactive science galleries on illusions and perception at science museums and children's discovery centers. He has built large galleries at the Singapore Science Centre, Hong Kong Science Museum, Museum of Science, Boston, WonderWorks, Orlando, WonderWorks, TN, National Science Center, Augusta GA, Technorama, Switzerland, Technolopolis, Beligium, Heureka, Finland, Xperimet Huset, Sweden, Science Museum, Tokyo, Shizuoka Museum of Art and Science, Japan, Science Place, Dallas, TX, Liberty Science Center, NJ, Exploratorium, San Francisco, Putt Putt Fun House, Webster, TX, LegoLand Amusement Park, San Diego, CA, Whitaker Center for Science and Arts, Harrisburg, PA, Montana Tech Mind Expansion, Butte, MO, Science WOrks, Ashland, OR, COSI, Columbus, OH, Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH, Explore and More, East Aurora, New York, Reuben Fleet Space Science Center, San Diego, CA, Lexington Children's Cnter, Lexington, VA, Southwestern Museum, Houston, TX, Museum of Science, London

Skeptics and Freethought

Seckel used to be very active in the freethought movement. He was a popular author of various freethought pamphlets, and in 1982 created with John Edwards, the well-known bumper sticker of the Darwin fish, that to this day has evolved into numerous variations. Evolution/Design, a Texas firm, plagerized the fish in 1990 and made a multi-million dollar business empire selling them as plastic bumper stickers, and a lawsuit between Seckel, Edwards, and the Evolution/Design started. The suit was settled after it became apparent that Seckel and Edwards had sufficient evidence that they created the Darwin fish, but lost copyright when they allowed it to fall into public domain.

In 1982, Seckel started the Southern California Skeptics at the California Institute of Technology. His desire was not so much to "debunk" various straw men arguments, but rather to use them as a tool to develop thinking skills, and encourage a wider acceptance of scientific methods and the ability to ask and frame the right questions. The group became extremely popular, and was the largest local affiliate of the Committee of the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). During its hey day in the late 80s, it was simultaneously running packed meetings at several campuses throughout the greater Southern California area. Even the Los Angeles Times heralded its positive emphasis with an editorial entitled "Go Skeptics!" Seckel's emphasis on the positive was delinated in an article he authored for the Skeptical Inquirer entitled, "Encourage Thinking Rather than Debunking." Seckel became a popular spokesperson for the skeptical movement and was interviewed by scores of media outlets. His basic premise was that "Before you could say that something was 'out of this world' you must be darn sure that it isn't in it." Seckel had his own popular columns on science and pseudoscience in both the Los Angeles Times as well as the Santa Monica News. In these columns, topics covered were cult awareness, medical quackery, UFOs, ghosts, psychics, astrology, firewalking, New Age Beliefs, dowsing, telekenesis, record groove readers, faith healing, psychic detectives, etc. The articles were meant to be humerous and informative, aimed more at enlightening rather than strickley debunking.

In 1987, Seckel helped sponsor an amicus brief, with the support of the physicist and Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann, to counter the widespread belief that "creation-science" was in fact a "science." This issue came before the U.S. Supreme Court. Seckel organized a brief, written with his friend Jeffrey Lehmann, and signed by 72 American Nobel laureates (an unprecedented amount back then), that stated a definition of science, as well as the facts that "creation-science" was counter not only to the study of evolution, but to ALL sciences. This brief turned out to be very influential on all but two of the Court Justices (Scalia and Rehnquist), and was cited in all of their opinions, including the discents. After the brief was filed, Seckel held an international press conference with well-known Harvard author and biologist Stephen Jay Gould, Nobel laureate Christian Afinson, and Francisco Ayala, of the National Academy of Sciences.

In late 1989, due to a sudden onset of leukemia, Seckel was forced to abandon the Skeptics, and had to immediately enter the hospital, where he quickly deterioted. WIthout its helmsman, the Southern California Skeptics folded, only to be resurrected a couple of years later by Michael Shermer, and renamed the Skeptic Society. Shermer retained many of the original board members of the Seckel's group, used the Southern California Skeptics' mailing list, and continued the tradition of hosting lectures at Caltech, as well as issuing newsletters and providing interviews with the press. The Skeptic's Society still flourishes today. It wasn't until 1992, that Seckel started to recover from his illness, but he wanted to spend his time working in science, and then turned his attention to studying the greatest mystery of them all -- the human brain.

Influences

Seckel has had the rare privilege to have been taught and mentored by some of the 20th centuries greatest minds. When he was a young boy, he was consumed by reading, which he started at a very early age. A pivital moment came, when in first grade, he was in the back of the class totally absorbed in H.G. Well's classic, The War of the Worlds. The teacher, who was struggling to get the students to read See Spot Run, told Seckel to "put down that book and learn to read with everyone else." From that point on, and for many years, Seckel turned out his teachers, and would just read in the back of the class whatever he could get a hold of. In the early sixties, he became interested in UFOs, as they were adorning the covers of Life and Look magazines, to which his parents subscribed. He proceeded to read every book and magazine on UFOs that he could get his hands on, with such imprints as "Startling, but true!," "Non-fiction," etc. He read early accounts of abductees, who were taken to Venus, "which was not unlike some places in Southern California," with its societies of "big buxom women." Concurrently, Seckel had a fascination with science, and learned that the surface of Venus could not possibly harbor life as outlined in the "non-fiction" books. Seckel realized that there was no "TRUTH" police, and so, he went back to reading the only magazine that he could trust -- MAD magazine, which he claims greatly influenced his outlook with its positive satire at at time when the magazine was socially relevant. At a conference honoring mentorship before a internationally distinguished panel of speakers and students, Seckel proclaimed his great love for MAD magazine and how much a positive influence it was on his life and thought process.

In 1976 Seckel attended Cornell University and came under the influence of L. Pearce Williams, a popular history of science teacher. Williams spent an enormous amount of time with Seckel and instilled into him a love of excellence and going beyond what is expected, that Seckel carries to this day. Williams instilled in Seckel the idea of rigour and what it means to be excellent. Williams, one of Cornell's most popular lecturers, also taught Seckel that a good presentation involves not only one to be content rich, but also to have theater.

It was at this time that Seckel has another great revelation. During high school, he was very inspired by the writings of the noted English philosopher Bertrand Russell. He had first read his book on An Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy and enjoyed it so muchh that he turned to read his Principles of Mathematics. He quickly discovered that Russell had written passionately on many topics, many of them, concerning social issues. This inspired Seckel to be active in social causes, and Russell's rationality and "clear thinking" appealed to him. However, this would soon lead Seckel into trouble. Seckel started to absorb the writings and views of Russell. It all seemed so clear and all made sense. Yet, when Seckel actually ran into someone who deeply understood the topic, and Seckel challenged him with Russell's views, Seckel found himself quickly disarmed. Seckel was only a parrot of what Russell had said. Seckel hadn't done the work. So, Seckel realized that it was important to do the research and understand the work yourself in a qualitative way. Only then, does it make a difference. Seckel found that most people suffer this mistake, because they just basically parrot what other people have said or written.

Between the period of 1982 and 1988, Seckel started a very close relationship with the well-known physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman and his close circle of friends. Seckel and Feynman would spend many hours together, so much so that his secretary actually complained that he was spending too much time with Seckel. Many of their adventures together can be found on line at the Feynman on-line web site. Seckel developed an enormous box of mental tools from their close interaction. It was singly the greatest intellectual period inspiration of his life. At the same time, Seckel developed a close relationship with Feynman's close collegue and rival Murray Gell-Mann. There were many times, when Seckel had to mediate between the two, as the personalities were so different and sometimes even explosive. Among the other people Seckel has had a close inspirational relationship were Francis Crick (co-discoverer of the structure of DNA), Max Perutz (winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize for determining the structure of a protein molecule), Marvin Minsky (father of Artificial Intelligence), Christof Koch (who studies consciousness at Caltech), Richard Gregory (author of numerous books on the brain), Martin Gardner (author and former mathematical games columnist for Scientific American) and Paul MacCready, the engineer of the century.

Other Activities

Seckel has always had a keen passion for making the world a better place, although his primary interest has been in education, especially in developing ways for people to learn how to think rather than what to think. In this regard, he works quietly behind the scenes promoting educational ideals. In addition, Seckel has been very active in developing tools to eradicate poverty in Africa with Kickstart by enabling people to generate an income, thereby building up a middle class, in impoverished societies. Seckel strongly believes that high tech answers and hand-outs are not the answer, when low-tech methods can supply basic fundamental needs without robbing individuals of their dignity. Seckel has also been involved in issues related to global climate change, and raising people's consciousness in this important area, by calling for solutions, not just ringing a dispair alarm bell.

Seckel is active in preserving our intellectual heritage. In this regard, he was instrumental in putting together a historic archive of seminal papers from the founders of molecular biology, including, but not limited to the archives of Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, Max Perutz, Max Delbruck, Aaron Klug, Rolin Hotchkiss, Francis Crick, Sven Furberg, and Don Caspar. These papers were preserved for scholarly access and now can be found at the Craig Ventor Institute. These papers were instrumental in reconstructing various issues of the greatest intellectual achievement of the 20th century, the discovery of the structure of DNA and the working out of the genetic code. Many of these papers, and Seckel's help, were instrumental and acknowledged in Brenda Maddox's seminal biography Rosland Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. He has similarly helped preserve the archives for institutional use of Murray Gell-Mann, Paul MacCready, Freeman Dyson, and Will Provine.

Organizations

Seckel is a member of the Edge, which is an international think tank of some of the world's most prominent writers, achievers, and intellectuals. Seckel is on the nominating board for the MacArthur Fellowship ("Genius") awards Seckel has been a member of the American Academy of Achievement. He is a principle organizer of the Conference for Martin Gardner He has been a consultant for TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design Conference) He is a consultant for many high profile groups and awards. He used to be a Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, but ended that tenure in 2005 to concentrate on his business and philanthropic endeavors.

Family

He has one daughter Elizabeth, born in 1987. His father is an accomplished artist and his mother (Ruth Schonthal) is a world famous classical composer. He has two older brothers. He was born in New Rochelle, NY. and now resides in Malibu, CA.