Bouma was born in
Harderwijk on 15 March 1934. He obtained a degree in physics from
Utrecht University and also partially studied medicine there. In 1959 Bouma started working for the Institute of Perception Research (Dutch:
Instituut voor Perceptie Onderzoek, IPO), an institute of
Philips Research and the
Eindhoven University of Technology. In 1965 he obtained his PhD at Eindhoven University of Technology under
Jan Frederik Schouten with a thesis titled:
"Receptive systems mediating certain light reactions of the pupil of the human eye". In 1968 Bouma became teamleader of visual research at the IPO. In 1975 or 1978 he became director of the IPO and served until 1994. After this position he was director of the Institute for Gerontechnology at Eindhoven University of Technology from 1994 to 1999. He also continued as a part-time professor at the university. On his retirement the Herman Bouma Fund for Gerontechnology was set up. ==Research==