Old story about a man with "vision lag" -- he sees what was happening a few minutes ago

Question

I think I read this short story in the 1990s, in a library book (anthology of some sort). I remember nothing about the rest of the book, nor the author. I did think the story had an old-fashioned, "Golden Age of Science Fiction" feel to it, but I remember nothing about the original publication date.

My memory of the plot is surprisingly intact, considering that it's probably been 20 years or more since I read the silly thing. Now I find myself wondering if the author's other works might be entertaining, if I could only find out who he (or she) was!

Here's a capsule summary of what I recall.

1. The hero is a scientist of some sort, apparently with his own private workshop in his home. As the story opens, he is fiddling with something of his own design -- some sort of special radio equipment which is picking up a distress call from an expedition in Antarctica. (I think it was Antarctica -- I don't remember exactly what their sudden emergency was all about, but it was life-threatening if they didn't get help within, say, a few days.) For some reason, the hero either knows for a fact, or strongly suspects, that his own experimental-prototype radio device is the only equipment that is picking up that faint signal from the bottom of the globe.

2. While he is fiddling with the device -- perhaps trying to improve the reception? -- it kinda blows up in his face. (There may not have been a literal explosion with shrapnel flying through the air, but there was definitely a blinding flash of light, and/or surge of other forms of radiation.) The device is no longer working, although in theory it could still be fixed by its designer (our hero).

3. When he recovers from the shock (or whatever it was that happened), he discovers that his vision has gone screwy. He can only see "the past." I think this means he can only see, right now, whatever his eyes were looking at a few minutes ago -- as if the signals are taking a great deal longer to reach his brain and be properly processed; a built-in lag factor.

4. Among other things which are annoying about the situation, this makes it virtually impossible for him to do any precision repair work on the circuitry of his special radio set. Because he can't see what his hand, gripping a given tool, is doing "right now," and whether or not it's currently got the tip of the tool in precisely the right place. If he maneuvered a tool into position and then waited for some minutes, he would finally see his hand "where it really was" -- but of course, as soon as he started moving his hand again, the time lag would leave him out of touch again.

5. Being an absolute glutton for punishment, the hero decides to go for a long walk outside, and ultimately finds his way into a local restaurant, stands near the entrance for a while to try to size things up, and finally tries to sit down and order and eat a meal. Which he does, albeit with considerable clumsiness. (I seem to recall that the first time he tries to slide quietly into a vacant seat, he nearly sits on the lap of someone who must have seated herself in it a couple of minutes earlier, more recently than any data his eyes were feeding to him about what was happening at that table.)

6. Somehow -- the details completely escape me -- he meets a nice girl who just happens to have a beloved relative (father or brother?) in that Antarctic expedition. I believe the protagonist explains his predicament to her, and tries to coach her on what to do with his tools to start making repairs to his unique radio, but it doesn't work out well.

7. In the end, there's a happy ending! He discovers that when it's dark outside, and the room around him is only lit by moonlight coming in through the window, his vision is suddenly functioning in realtime again. After some further experimentation, he realizes that the damage done to his eyes by the previous flash of radiation (or whatever) only affects certain wavelengths of light. Light that's been "polarized" in certain ways is still making it through the eyeball and the optic nerve, and thus into his brain, in a timely fashion. If he wears special lenses for the rest of his life, he'll be back to "normal." He works hard for hours to get his special radio functioning again, so that he can somehow steer a rescue party toward those intrepid folks who are about to die in the Antarctic, and it's implied that he will marry the nice girl.

Answer 1

I recently stumbled across the answer to my own question! "The Man Who Saw Too Late," written by Otto Binder (and first published under the pen name of "Eando Binder" which he had previously shared with his brother). It first appeared in an issue of Fantastic Adventures (September 1939), and it's only been reprinted a few times. I'm pretty sure that I must have run across it when I checked out a library copy of the anthology Beyond Reality in the 1990s. That book was edited by Terry Carr.

After looking the story over again, I note that my summary from memory was pretty good, although of course I'd forgotten various odds and ends about the plot. Such as the fact that the protagonist (Pat Riker) initially didn't explain to the nice girl (Rita Caldwell) about his nasty vision problem which was seriously impeding his efforts to find a way to reestablish radio contact with her brother in his time of need. But it all worked out in the end.

Answer 2

I don't remember the details of the story but this reminds me of Shaw's "Other Days Other Eyes" and Slow Glass . Light passing through the glass was slowed down finally exiting after a time interval specific to each piece.