Edward Lee Thorndike

Edward Lee Thorndike was born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on August 31, 1874. He was son of a Methodist minister in Lowell. It was sheer industriousness & hard work, qualities ingrained in Thorndike at a young age that led him to attain great heights in psychological research.

Thorndike began his career at Wesleyan College studying English and graduated from the Suid College in 1895. He went to Harvard University, where he studied psychology.

At Harvard, to pay his tuition fees, Thorndike had to tutor a boy. Then at Harvard, Thorndike raised chickens in the basement of the house of William James. James guided Thorndike at Harvard between 1895 to 1897. However, he couldn't pay for his studies at Harvard and as a fellowship was on offer, Thorndike moved to Columbia University.

At Columbia University under the guidance of James Mckeen Cattell, he earned his Ph.D. in psychology in 1898 at the age of 24. His thesis : Animal Intelligence published in 1911 is still a classic. He had done pioneering research on an Experimental Study of the associative processes in animals. Thorndike's thesis showed that cats learn through a gradual process of trial and error. Such trial and error methods in learning leads to the Stamping in of correct responses. Thorndike went on to be the most prolific of writers in the various divisions of psychology.

In 1899, Thorndike joined the psychology faculty at Teachers College of Columbia University, where he also served as adjunct professor of Educational Psychology from 1901 to 1904. He was then promoted as Professor of psychology from 1904 till his retirement in 1940. From 1922 to 1940 he was also Director of the psychology division at the Institute of Educational Research at the Teachers College.

His intensity, depth of knowledge and mastery over the subject can be gauged from the fact that he has to his credit more than 78 books and 400 articles bearing over 508 titles. This results to almost 10 per year in his life long career, an achievement unparalleled. His published works have found mention in Teachers College Record, circa 1949.

Thorndike retired in August 9, 1939, but he worked actively till his death, ten years later. He was of the most influential forces in American education in the 20^th century. He died on August 9, 1949 in Montrose, New York.