OSA Fellow Robert Boynton was born on 28 October 1924 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He received his undergraduate degree at Amherst College in Massachusetts and his Ph.D. at Brown University in Rhode Island.

He began his academic career in 1952 as an assistant psychology professor at the University of Rochester. In 1963, at age 39, he founded that university's Center for Visual Science. He joined the University of California, San Diego faculty in 1974 and remained with the University until he retired in 1991.

Boynton was well known for his research on the neurophysiological processes in the eye and brain that underlie vision. His book, Human Color Vision, is a standard text studied by others in this area of science. He published more than 1,500 pages in his more than 40-year career.

Boynton was a member of OSA and the National Academy of Sciences. He was the recipient of both the Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize, the highest award of the Society recognizing overall distinction in optics, and the Edgar D. Tillyer Award for outstanding achievements in his field.

An active member of several different committees over the course of his career, including the Edgar D. Tillyer Award Committee and the Advisory Committee the International Committee on Optics, Boynton always gave back to the field. His spirit of scientific collaboration and volunteerism was present in his teaching, as well as his own research.