Personal Life
Sources
Education
- Married in 1833.
- No children (or no record of children).
- Close friends with famous psychologist, Wilhelm Wundt.
- Wrote humorous articles that satirized contemporary science under the name "Dr. Mises".
- Published chemical and physical papers.
- "Gustav Theodor Fechner." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/203301/Gustav-Theodor-Fechner>.
- Markov, Sergey. "Gustav Fechner - Founder of Psychophysics." Geniuses. Geniuses, 16 May 2012. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://geniusrevive.com/en/geniuses.html?pid=55&sid=254:Gustav-Fechner-Founder-of-psychophysics>.
- Smith, Adrianne M. "Gustav Theodor Fechner." Psyography: Biographies on Psychologists. Megan E. Bradley, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/fechner.html>.
- Studied medicine at the Medizinisch-Chirurgische Akademiein Dresden (1817).
- In 1818, he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig.
- In 1822, Fechner received his M.D.
Fun Fact!
Awards & Accomplishments
Fechner became an atheist in his later years.
Gustav Theodor Fechner Award for Outstanding Contributions to Empirical Aesthetics (1996)
Career
Meet Gustav
Experimental Psychology
- Appointed Professor of Physics at University of Leipzig (1834).
- Contracted an eye disorder while studying phenomena of color and vision; resigned (1839).
- Studied the mind and its relation to the body.
- Gave public lectures on subjects dealt with in his books.
Scientific methods to research the mind and behavior.
Fun Fact!
Psychophysics
Fechner spent the rest of his life in Leipzig.
Quantitative study of the relationships between physical stimuli and mental phenomena.
Fechner's Law
The concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.
Childhood
Example
If Light A is twice as bright as Light B (measured by an instrument), it would appear to the human eye to be log 2 brighter than Light B.
- Born 19 April 1801, in Leipzig, Saxony.
- Father was a pastor (died at an early age).
- Lived with uncle, mother, and brother.
- Nameless parents.
Fun Fact!
Fun fact!
Sigmund Freud admired Fechner as the pioneer of psychophysics; the "Great G. T. Fechner".
Fechner was a panphysicist.
Fun Fact!
In other words...
All objects on Earth are capable of consciousness and life to some degree.
- Fechner suffered a nervous breakdown in 1840.
- Severe Neurotic Depression (Avoided sunlight, black walls, etc.)
- 77 Days
- Special Meals
Gustav Theodor Fechner