Israel Dvorine; Developed Colorblindness Test

Israel Dvorine, 89, an optometrist who was the first American to develop a test for colorblindness. Dvorine was most noted for the design and publication of a set of “pseudo-isochromatic plates,” charts with a series of colored dots used to test for colorblindness. His test, which involved 11 years of research, was the first by an American and remains in use. Dvorine also did early research on strabismus, or crossed eyes, which led to development of stereoscopic charts used to train children in proper eye movement. In 1983, he was named the national Optometrist of the Year by the American Optometric Assn. Dvorine also was a sculptor and was commissioned by the American Jewish Historical Society to sculpt more than 40 American Jewish Nobel Prize recipients. In Baltimore on Feb. 24.