Movshon recalls growing up in midtown Manhattan, an only child with unfettered access to the city's resources. After what he calls "a brief radical phase," Movshon finds the fun he craves when he discovers Cambridge University's budding world of vision research. Calling on newly developed testing and measuring methods, he begins his own research on how people see and how vision affects their decisions and actions. Movshon also discusses the challenges of balancing a healthy personal life and a vibrant scientific career, and the autonomy and independence that a life in research can afford.

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