Arnold Gesell
| Arnold Gesell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 21, 1880 Alma, Wisconsin |
| Died | May 29, 1961 (aged 80) New Haven, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Psychology |
| Alma mater |
University of Wisconsin—Madison Yale University |
| Known for | Studies in child development |
Arnold Lucius Gesell (21 June 1880 – 29 May 1961) was an American psychologist and pediatrician and professor at Yale University, known for his research and contributions in the field of child development.
Gesell was born in Alma, Wisconsin, and later wrote a book analyzing his experiences there, The Village of a Thousand Souls. He was the eldest of five children and the son of photographer Gerhard Gesell and schoolteacher Christine Giesen. His first experience in observing child development involved watching his younger siblings learn and grow. He graduated from high school in 1896.
Gesell attended Stevens Point Normal School, where a course taught by Edgar James Swift led Gesell to take an interest in psychology. He worked as a high school teacher briefly, before leaving to study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Gesell studied history under Frederick Jackson Turner and psychology under Joseph Jastrow, and he received a bachelor of philosophy degree from Wisconsin in 1903.
Gesell served as a teacher and high school principal before continuing his education at Clark University, where the university's president, G. Stanley Hall, had founded a child study movement. He received his PhD from Clark in 1906.
Gessell worked at several educational facilities in New York City and Wisconsin before obtaining a professorship at the Los Angeles State Normal School. There he met fellow teacher Beatrice Chandler. They later had a daughter and a son, Federal District Judge Gerhard Gesell.
Gesell spent time at schools for the mentally disabled, including the Vineland Training School in New Jersey. Having developed an interest in the causes and treatment of childhood disabilities, Gesell began studying at the University of Wisconsin Medical School to better understand physiology. He later served as an assistant professor at Yale University while continuing to study medicine. He developed the Clinic of Child Development there and received his M.D. in 1915. He was later given a full professorship at Yale.
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