Max Wertheimer

Psychologist and philosopher, born in Prague, Czech Republic. He studied law in Prague, then psychology at Berlin and Würzburg universities. In 1912 he conducted experiments in perception with Koffka and Köhler which led to the founding of the Gestalt school of psychology. He was professor at Berlin and Frankfurt, but left Germany for the USA in 1933 at the Nazi assumption of power, and taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City (1933–43).

Max Wertheimer (April 15, 1880, Prague – October 12, 1943, New York) was one of the founders of Gestalt psychology.

In 1910 he worked at the Psychological Institute of Frankfurt University. Together with two younger assistants, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka he studied the effect of moving pictures a tachistoscope generates.

From 1916 to 1925 he was in Berlin (as assistant professor from 1922 onwards).

In 1933 he escaped Germany to the United States, where he taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City.

Wertheimer is seen as one of the founding fathers of modern psychology.