Systems and Methods for Measuring Spectra of Skin and Other Objects and Materials and Making Predictions Based Thereon

An apparatus for measuring optical properties of an object, comprising:

• a spectrometer and a light source under control of a processing circuit;
• an optical cavity into which illumination from the light source is provided, wherein the cavity has an opening for illuminating a portion of the object to be measured;
• a calibration/normalization reference having a surface for positioning such that the opening illuminates the calibration/normalization reference;
• a storage circuit coupled to the processing circuit that stores linearization coefficients and spectral data for the calibration/normalization reference;
• wherein a measurement of the calibration/normalization reference is made and data stored in the storage circuit;
• wherein data indicative of three parameters are generated characterize properties of the apparatus, wherein the three parameters are processed by the processing circuit and reduce sample substitution error in the apparatus.
• wherein, based on the stored linearization coefficients and stored data indicative of the three parameters, spectral information for the measured portion of the object is generated;