Wertheimer, Max

Wertheimer, Max (mäks vĕrt`hīmər), 1880–1943, German psychologist, b. Prague. He studied at the universities of Prague, Berlin, and Würzburg (Ph.D., 1904). His original researches, while he was a professor at Frankfurt and Berlin, placed him in the forefront of contemporary psychology. Wertheimer came to the United States in 1933, shortly before the Nazis seized power in Germany. He immediately joined the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research (1933–43). Wertheimer's discovery (1910–12) of the phi phenomenon (concerning the illusion of motion) gave rise to the influential school of Gestalt psychology. His early experiments, in collaboration with Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, introduced a new approach (macroscopic as opposed to microscopic) to the study of psychological problems. In the latter part of his life he directed much of his attention to the problem of learning; this research resulted in a book, posthumously published, called Productive Thinking (1945, repr. 1978).

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Wertheimer, Max

(b. April 15, 1880, Prague, Czech.—d. Oct. 12, 1943, New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S.) German psychologist. He taught at the Universities of Frankfurt and Berlin (1916–29) before immigrating to the U.S. to teach at the New School for Social Research (1933–43). With Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), he was instrumental in establishing Gestalt psychology. Much of his work dealt with perception, though he also explored thinking and problem solving. His Productive Thinking was published posthumously in 1945.

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Wertheimer, Max (1880–1943) psychologist; born in Prague. In 1912, he published the results of a two-year study on the perception of movement, undertaken with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler, which marked the beginning of the Gestalt psychology movement. He emigrated to the United States in 1933. During his ten years in the United States, he played an active role in the development of the New School for Social Research.