Who is Alfred Binet: Biography
Alfred Binet, one of the most influential French
psychologists and scientists, is known for his extensive research
related to the mental capacity of humans. He literally revolutionized
the fields of education and psychology, especially in regard to
intelligence testing. Binet’s findings were way ahead of his time, and
although he did not quite realise the true worth of his contributions,
his name is cemented in the world of psychology.Binet also authored many
publications about psychophysics and creativity, including the
legendary “L’Année psychologique”, which is still regarded as an
important psychology journal.
While in his mid-twenties, Binet was given permission as a reader at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. There, he studied about the developments and trends in psychology. He was inspired by the works of Theodule Ribot and John Stuart Mill, and that boosted his enthusiasm for sensory and associationistic psychology.
In 1884 he got married to Laure Balbiani, the daughter of the famous embryologist Edouard-Gérard Balbiani. They had two daughters together, Madeleine and Alice. Binet gave up his position at the Salpêtrière in 1890. He carried out home experiments with his daughters and observed their behavior and responses in a systematic approach. Subsequently, he published his work explaining these experiments that dealt with individual differences and measuring intelligence. His daughter’s ability to differentiate the relative size of collections premised conservation studies by Jean Piaget.
Binet volunteered at the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Sorbonne, where he was made a director in 1894. He worked with Henry Heaunis and Theodore Simon to lay down the psychology journal “L’Année psychologique”. The journal is widely considered to be one of the most important contributions in the history of psychology.
The approaches of Binet’s experimental research also addressed schoolchildren. French physical chemist Victor Henri briefly helped him with the investigations of visual memory and research regarding individual psychology. He advocated that the intelligence of a person, and the individual differences in intelligence of more than one persons, could well be measured. He became a member of the Free Society for the Psychological Study of the Child. Binet also performed his services to a Commission on the Education of Retarded Children for the French government. The landmark development of mothods related to the intelligence quotient (IQ) tests also took place during this time. In an effort to find out the inadequacies that influence mental subnormality, Binet and Simon devised an instrument.
The research emphasis of Alfred Binet on the variable intelligence of children offered a fundamental model for measuring and understanding the individual differences of both typically and atypically developing children.
Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock was a well-known American surgeon in the 20th century most noted for his research concerning shock as well as for the development of the surgical procedure called the Blalock-Taussig Shunt which he developed hand in hand with Vivien Thomas, a surgical technician, and Helen Taussig, a pediatric cardiologist. This surgical procedure which is still used today was developed to relieve cyanosis which resulted from Tetralogy of Fallot which is more commonly known as the “blue baby syndrome.” This surgical procedure that he developed has made its way even to the modern procedures for cardiac surgery.
He was only 19 when he graduated with his A.B. and after that, he then attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He then had his M.D. in 1922 and for the next two and a half years, he spent it at John Hopkins and during that time he completed his internship in urology. He didn’t stop at that because he then earned his Assistant Residency on the General Surgical Service which was then followed by having a Fellowship in Otolaryngology.
He did not stop at improving himself through education and experience. In the summer of 1925, he transferred to Boston where he began his residency which he had at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Not long after though, he was able to accept a position offered to him to be the resident surgeon in the then newly built Vanderbilt University Hospital located in Nashville. There, he was able to work with his good friend Tinsley Harrison who was his roommate back in Hopkins. Harrison was the first Chief Resident on the Medical Service of Vanderbilt that time. Blalock arrived in Nashville on the 17th of September where he also worked with Barney Brooks, the Professor of Surgery as well as the Chief of the Surgical Service.
Also while he was in Vanderbilt, Blalock had an active time in teaching 3rd and 4th year students taking medical courses and was also placed in charge of the place’s surgical laboratory. His laboratory experiments while in Vanderbilt proved how surgical shock resulted from the loss of effective circulating volume of blood. From there he formed his basis for using plasma and blood for the care of men who were wounded in The Second World War.
Because of his discovery which was what saved thousands of lives in The Second World War, Hopkins offered him a position in 1941. In turn, Blalock responded that he was not going to leave his current position which he had at Vanderbilt unless a position would also be created for Vivien Thomas. They were to be considered as a “packaged deal” as both professional colleagues and really good friends.
Apart from his interest in after shock therapy, he was also highly interested in pulmonary hypertension. He used dogs while he was devising the operation where the subclavian artery had to be anastomosed to the dog’s pulmonary artery. This work was done in collaboration with a pediatric cardiologist named Helen Taussig who helped them translate their medical work to become an actual procedure which can be applied even for the tiniest of patients—babies. Although this procedure failed to produce pulmonary hypertion which was why it was tried in the first place, the same surgical procedure was the one later on used and known as the solution for the Tetralogy of Fallot or the blue baby syndrome.
Tetralogy of Fallot is a congenital heart condition where the baby tends to show blue skin. This is caused by not having enough oxygenated blood because of a congenital heart defect, and this lack of oxygenated blood is what turns the newborn’s skin blue. The very first Blalock-Taussig surgical operation was performed on the 29th of November in 1944. This was done on a 15-month baby girl named Eileen, and Blalock did not begin the operation until his good friend Thomas was present too. Once Thomas was there, the instruments he designed were used, and his valuable opinion was always taken into consideration by Blalock. An artery which was leaving the heart was attached to an artery connected to the lungs. This was what gave the blood the added oxygenation it needs.
The surgical procedure done that day was a complete success which immediately showed when the girl began to change to her normal color once the oxygen began flowing to her arteries. Word about the successful operation spread very quickly and mothers with babies that had this condition began bringing their babies to Hopkins to have this procedure done to their children.
Early Life and Education:
Born in July 1857, in Nice, France to a physician father and artist mother, Binet’s parents got divorced when he was quite young. He was mostly raised by his mother. At 15, he received several awards for his extraordinary skills in literary composition and translation at the prestigious Louis-le-Grand school. Binet took law and medicine as his favorite subjects. He acquired a degree in law but chosen not to pursue a career in any of these subjects.While in his mid-twenties, Binet was given permission as a reader at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. There, he studied about the developments and trends in psychology. He was inspired by the works of Theodule Ribot and John Stuart Mill, and that boosted his enthusiasm for sensory and associationistic psychology.
Contributions and Achievements:
Binet met Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital in the early 1880s. He extensively studied, researched and published his works on hypnosis and hysteria. While asserting a controversial theory, he gradually comprehended the nature of suggestibility on psychological experimentation.In 1884 he got married to Laure Balbiani, the daughter of the famous embryologist Edouard-Gérard Balbiani. They had two daughters together, Madeleine and Alice. Binet gave up his position at the Salpêtrière in 1890. He carried out home experiments with his daughters and observed their behavior and responses in a systematic approach. Subsequently, he published his work explaining these experiments that dealt with individual differences and measuring intelligence. His daughter’s ability to differentiate the relative size of collections premised conservation studies by Jean Piaget.
Binet volunteered at the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Sorbonne, where he was made a director in 1894. He worked with Henry Heaunis and Theodore Simon to lay down the psychology journal “L’Année psychologique”. The journal is widely considered to be one of the most important contributions in the history of psychology.
The approaches of Binet’s experimental research also addressed schoolchildren. French physical chemist Victor Henri briefly helped him with the investigations of visual memory and research regarding individual psychology. He advocated that the intelligence of a person, and the individual differences in intelligence of more than one persons, could well be measured. He became a member of the Free Society for the Psychological Study of the Child. Binet also performed his services to a Commission on the Education of Retarded Children for the French government. The landmark development of mothods related to the intelligence quotient (IQ) tests also took place during this time. In an effort to find out the inadequacies that influence mental subnormality, Binet and Simon devised an instrument.
The research emphasis of Alfred Binet on the variable intelligence of children offered a fundamental model for measuring and understanding the individual differences of both typically and atypically developing children.
Later Life and Death:
Alfred Binet also studied human sexual behavior (he coined the term “erotic fetishism”) and the palm reading abilities of the famous Paris chiromancer Valentine Dencausse. He died on October 18, 1911.Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock was a well-known American surgeon in the 20th century most noted for his research concerning shock as well as for the development of the surgical procedure called the Blalock-Taussig Shunt which he developed hand in hand with Vivien Thomas, a surgical technician, and Helen Taussig, a pediatric cardiologist. This surgical procedure which is still used today was developed to relieve cyanosis which resulted from Tetralogy of Fallot which is more commonly known as the “blue baby syndrome.” This surgical procedure that he developed has made its way even to the modern procedures for cardiac surgery.
Early Life and Educational Background
Alfred Blalock was born on the 5th of April in 1899 to his parents George Blalock and Martha Davis Blalock. He had two siblings, Elizabeth, and Edgar. He was born and raised in Culloden Georgia and when he was 14, he entered the Georgia Military Academy which was the preparatory school to attend for the University of Georgia. Later on, he attended the University of Georgia as one of its undergraduate students and during his time there, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, their Delta Chapter.He was only 19 when he graduated with his A.B. and after that, he then attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He then had his M.D. in 1922 and for the next two and a half years, he spent it at John Hopkins and during that time he completed his internship in urology. He didn’t stop at that because he then earned his Assistant Residency on the General Surgical Service which was then followed by having a Fellowship in Otolaryngology.
He did not stop at improving himself through education and experience. In the summer of 1925, he transferred to Boston where he began his residency which he had at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Not long after though, he was able to accept a position offered to him to be the resident surgeon in the then newly built Vanderbilt University Hospital located in Nashville. There, he was able to work with his good friend Tinsley Harrison who was his roommate back in Hopkins. Harrison was the first Chief Resident on the Medical Service of Vanderbilt that time. Blalock arrived in Nashville on the 17th of September where he also worked with Barney Brooks, the Professor of Surgery as well as the Chief of the Surgical Service.
Career and Further Experience
While he was in Vanderbilt, he became acquainted with Vivien Thomas who was the school’s janitor. Despite being a black man who was excluded from having normal jobs back in the day, Blalock saw how meticulous and talented Thomas was and he made him his very own surgical technician—quite an unusual set up, since Thomas’s job description still remained as a janitor. Under Blalock’s guidance though, he learned more about surgical procedures and equipment which led him to design some of his very own.Also while he was in Vanderbilt, Blalock had an active time in teaching 3rd and 4th year students taking medical courses and was also placed in charge of the place’s surgical laboratory. His laboratory experiments while in Vanderbilt proved how surgical shock resulted from the loss of effective circulating volume of blood. From there he formed his basis for using plasma and blood for the care of men who were wounded in The Second World War.
Because of his discovery which was what saved thousands of lives in The Second World War, Hopkins offered him a position in 1941. In turn, Blalock responded that he was not going to leave his current position which he had at Vanderbilt unless a position would also be created for Vivien Thomas. They were to be considered as a “packaged deal” as both professional colleagues and really good friends.
Apart from his interest in after shock therapy, he was also highly interested in pulmonary hypertension. He used dogs while he was devising the operation where the subclavian artery had to be anastomosed to the dog’s pulmonary artery. This work was done in collaboration with a pediatric cardiologist named Helen Taussig who helped them translate their medical work to become an actual procedure which can be applied even for the tiniest of patients—babies. Although this procedure failed to produce pulmonary hypertion which was why it was tried in the first place, the same surgical procedure was the one later on used and known as the solution for the Tetralogy of Fallot or the blue baby syndrome.
Tetralogy of Fallot is a congenital heart condition where the baby tends to show blue skin. This is caused by not having enough oxygenated blood because of a congenital heart defect, and this lack of oxygenated blood is what turns the newborn’s skin blue. The very first Blalock-Taussig surgical operation was performed on the 29th of November in 1944. This was done on a 15-month baby girl named Eileen, and Blalock did not begin the operation until his good friend Thomas was present too. Once Thomas was there, the instruments he designed were used, and his valuable opinion was always taken into consideration by Blalock. An artery which was leaving the heart was attached to an artery connected to the lungs. This was what gave the blood the added oxygenation it needs.
The surgical procedure done that day was a complete success which immediately showed when the girl began to change to her normal color once the oxygen began flowing to her arteries. Word about the successful operation spread very quickly and mothers with babies that had this condition began bringing their babies to Hopkins to have this procedure done to their children.