1801-1887
Born Gustav Theodor Fechner in Gross-Sachen, Prussia.
A German scientist, Fechner studied anatomy at the University of Leipzig, Germany, under Ernst Weber. From 1834-1839 he even taught as a professor at Leipzig, but when confronted with a deeper spirital awareness Fechner turned his thoughts more over toward philosophy and physics than anatomy. His main contributions to the not-yet-founded soft science of pychology were Fechner's Law and Psychophysics. Fechner's Law states the relationship between stimulus and the mind's sensation of it as
S=k log R -Where S is the intensity of sensation and R is the amount of stimulus.
Focused mainly on the absolute and difference thresholds, Gustav could very well be considered a founder of psychology preceding Wilhelm Wundt with the idea that the mind could be measured. But in his own time, Fechner was not as well-liked as one might believe. He also wrote satire under the name Dr. Mises, but despite his genius, Fechner talked to aliens and had done many seemingly disasterous things to his reputation, including going temporarily blind from staring at the sun (cicra 1830). Perhaps this is why he was passed over when they awarded the title founder of psychology to Wundt instead.