APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

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On May 16:

1751 — Johann Hermann Pfingsten was born. Pfingsten was the primary editor of the first journal with the word psychology in its title, the Repertorium für Physiologie und Psychologie nach ihrem Umfange und ihrer Verbindung, published in 1784-1786. Pfingsten was a generalist with interests in minerology, mining, chemistry, botany, pharmacology, medicine, physiology, and psychology.

1904 — Robert J. Wherry was born. Wherry was a quantitative industrial psychologist. His contributions in statistics included several factor analytic methods and predictive procedures bearing his name. He also contributed to the literature in personnel selection and individual differences.

1922 — William Bevan was born. Bevan's research interests were in perception and cognition, vision, and human engineering. He pursued interests in psychology and public policy through his post at the John D. and Catherine T. Marshall Foundation. APA President, 1982; APA Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest Award, 1989.

1925 — R. Duncan Luce was born. Luce helped to produce the first Handbook of Mathematical Psychology (1963). His specialties have been mathematical models, measurement theory, signal detection, and theories of decision and choice behavior. APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, 1970.

1938 — Abraham A. Brill's The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud was published.

1946 — The British Columbia Psychological Association became an affiliate of the Canadian Psychological Association.

1952 — The APA bought its first headquarters building, nicknamed "the fortress," at 1333 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC. The purchase price was $90,000, and $140,000 of renovations were anticipated. The building was described as having five stories, 30 rooms, 10 baths, and a wine cellar.

1957 — The state of New Hampshire passed its psychologist certification law. The law became effective on July 1, 1957.

1967 — J. P. Guilford's book The Nature of Human Intelligence was published. Guilford's three-factor theory of intelligence was presented in the book.

1969 — The state of Rhode Island passed its psychologist certification law.

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