Ross Henry Day (20 March 1927 – 22 October 2018) was an Australian experimental psychologist who investigated illusions and human and infrahuman sensory processes and perception and who was known for his formative role in the establishment of experimental psychology in Australia as Foundation Chair of psychology at Monash University in 1965. He was distinguished as the first psychologist elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, was the foremost founder of the Australian Psychological Society in 1966, and initiated in Australia investigations of human factors in engineering and ergonomics.
Early life and education Ross Henry Day was born into a comfortably middle-class family, in Albany, Western Australia, on 20 March 1927, the son of Dorothy Euphemia (née Currer) and Harold Lindsay Day, who operated Day Brothers Bakery. After studying at Albany State Primary and Albany High School, and intending to study medicine, he undertook a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia over 1944–1949 where his interests in psychology developed, and there he met Grecian Snook (1927–2017), an historian, in the halls of residence. In 1948 while he was still his third year at the University of Western Australia, Dr. Alexander (Tim) Marshall gave him a staff position as Graduate Assistant (Associate Lecturer) in Psychology. He graduated with first class honours and was offered a position in New South Wales, but chose to remain in Western Australia.
United Kingdom In 1949 Day was offered a teaching position at University of Bristol, England where he lectured 1950–1951 in Psychology, then in 1951 was appointed Research fellow in Psychology at Bristol, while undertaking a PhD in perceptual aspects of human skill (1952–4) funded by the UK’s Air Ministry to investigate perceptual factors in piloting high performance aircraft. In England, Ross and Grecian married in July 1951, spent their honeymoon in Somerset and, while still in England, had a child.
University of Sydney In 1955 Day took up a post as lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he set up a basic lab (later moved to a nearby factory) to investigate motion effects, and in 1962 he became Reader in Psychology and in 1964, the Chair of the Constitutions Committee of the Australian Psychological Society (FAPsS) and its Foundation Fellow. During Day’s tenure his sabbatical was spent at Brown University, USA assisting in research into involuntary eye movements (microsaccades) with Lorrin Andrews Riggs.
Monash University Day moved in 1965 to Monash University which appointed him as Professor and Foundation Chair of the Department of Psychology, a post he was to hold until 1992, and where he was joined by Ken Forster, Bill Webster, Dexter Irvine, and John Bradshaw. Concurrently, he was Councillor of the Australian Psychological Society 1965–1975, President of the Australian Psychological Society (1966–67), wrote his Human Perception, was Chair of the Human Factors Committee of the Australian Aeronautical Research Committee (1966–68), and Visiting Professor, University of Exeter, United Kingdom over 1971–72, and edited the Records of the Australian Academy of Science (1974–80) in which he was memorialised by Max Coltheart and Nicholas J. Wade whose PhD was supervised by Day. In 1980 in Auckland Day gave evidence before a royal commission inquiring into the 28 November 1979 crash of a DC-10 into the Antarctic mountain Mount Erebus resulting in the deaths of all 257 aboard. He proposed that, in misperceiving visual observations, the crew's 'mental set' was fixed by their expectations that they were accurately following their flight plan which would take them clear of the mountain. At Monash, Day promoted the discipline as a science, with its experimental laboratories located within the Faculty of Science and not to be seen as merely a “treatment procedure for people with emotional problems.” His leadership, distinguished by inquiry, rigour, commitment and productivity, influenced the scientific classification of psychology in Australian Universities. After legislation was passed by the Victorian Parliament in 1965, following a report by Mr Kevin Anderson QC, into Scientology, the Victorian Psychological Council of eight members including Day, was established to register all practising psychologists in Victoria. Day chaired the Human Research Factors Committee of the Australian Road Research Board (1969–1973). From 1981-83 Ross served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science and President of the Council of the Lincoln Institute. On the advent of the Australian Bicentenary, Day and Ronald Taft co-authored a 25-page history and survey, "Psychology in Australia" for the Annual Review of Psychology.
Research Day’s research focus was on perceptual processes for potential explanation of consciousness, investigating it through experimental psychology.
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