Dr. Gary Bernard

Feb 5, 2025

Dr. Gary Bernard is an Affiliate Professor of Electrical Engineering at UW and a long-time WBA member.  He is not only a researcher, but also a fieldworker, notably participating in a 2009 butterfly survey of Mt. Tompotika on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.  

The title of Gary’s talk is ‘Red Blindness, Red Vision and Far-Red Vision of Butterflies (Then some Fun Stuff).’  He will introduce us to the remarkable properties of butterfly vision and how their specialized capabilities enable individuals to be more successful.  Some species can see beyond the range of humans, and he’ll discuss some of the specialized techniques required to learn about vision in light regions that we can’t see.  We can’t see as butterflies can, but he’ll give us a glimpse of how a butterfly might experience the world around us.  

A flash microscopic image of eyeshine taken of a fully dark-adapted Vanessa butterfly eye. The orange facets are the patch of the eye that sees into the 21-degree cone of light that the microscope shines onto the eye. Photo by Gary Bernard.

Here is an article from a recent UW publication if you want to read more in advance: https://www.ece.uw.edu/spotlight/gary-bernard/