Max Wertheimer

Max Wertheimer (born April 15, 1880, Prague—died Oct. 12, 1943, New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S.) was a Czech-born psychologist, one of the founders, along with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler, of Gestalt psychology (q.v.), which attempts to examine psychological phenomena as structural wholes, rather than breaking them down into components. During his adolescence, Wertheimer played the violin, composed symphonic and chamber music, and generally seemed destined to become a musician. In 1900 he began to study...