Hermann Rorschach

Hermann Rorschach
Rorschach in 1921
Born	(1884-11-08)8 November 1884 Zürich, Switzerland
Died	1 April 1922(1922-04-01) (aged 37) Herisau, Switzerland
Nationality	Swiss
Fields	Psychiatry, psychometrics
Known for	Rorschach test
Influences	Eugen Bleuler

Hermann Rorschach (German: [ˈhɛrman ˈroːrʃax]; 8 November 1884 – 1 April 1922) was a Swiss Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, best known for developing the Rorschach test. This test was reportedly designed to reflect unconscious parts of the personality that "project" onto the stimuli. In the test, individuals are shown 10 inkblots—one at a time—and asked to report what objects or figures they see in each of them.

Rorschach was born in Zürich, Switzerland, the eldest of three children born to Ulrich and Philippine Rorschach. His sister's name was Anna and his brother's name was Paul. He spent his childhood and youth in Schaffhausen, in northern Switzerland. He was known to his school friends as Klecks, or "inkblot" since he enjoyed klecksography, the making of fanciful inkblot "pictures".

Rorschach's father, an art teacher, encouraged him to express himself creatively through painting and drawing conventional pictures. As the time of his high school graduation approached, he could not decide between a career in art and one in science. He wrote a letter to the famous German biologist Ernst Haeckel asking his advice. The scientist suggested science, and Rorschach enrolled in medical school at the University of Zurich. Rorschach began learning Russian, and in 1906, while studying in Berlin, he traveled to Russia for a holiday.

Rorschach studied under the eminent psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who had taught Carl Jung. The excitement in intellectual circles over psychoanalysis constantly reminded Rorschach of his childhood inkblots. Wondering why different people often saw entirely different things in the same inkblots, he began, while still a medical student, showing inkblots to schoolchildren and analyzing their responses.