michael wertheimer facets of an academic’s life

Facets of an Academic’s Life

Michael Wertheimer

A Memoir

Facets of an Academic’s Life

Michael Wertheimer

Facets of an Academic’s LifeA Memoir

Michael WertheimerDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO, USA

ISBN 978-3-658-28769-6 ISBN 978-3-658-28770-2 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28770-2

© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2020This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH part of Springer Nature.The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28770-2

Preface

I have been blessed, awesomely so, by an amazingly rich, varied, and fulfilling

life for which I am immensely grateful. But who, if anyone, might be interested

in reading an account of the life of a more than ninety year old retired professor?

Several different readers of earlier drafts of this manuscript suggested that vari-

ous phases or aspects of my life might be of modest interest to quite different

audiences: those interested in experiences of an immigrant from Europe to the

United States, or in the career of a twentieth-century academic, mountaineering

in Colorado, involvement in various professional associations, extensive national

and international travels, and perhaps even fascination with multilingualism.

Accordingly, the narrative presented here is relatively brief, and a few appen-

dices provide details about such things as a childhood “newspaper” I published

for a short time, my travels, my scholarly efforts, my roles in a variety of profes-

sional organizations, and my experiences after retirement. The reader is urged to

skip those pages that provide information about aspects of my life in which the

reader isn’t really interested.

Anyone who prefers to start looking at this memoir by getting a kind of over-

view of the author’s entire life is encouraged to start by reading Chapter 11,

“Who Am I?”.

⁂

Early drafts of this manuscript were entitled “Musings about a Memoir,” “A

Psychologist’s Saga,” or “Notes for an Autobiography.” One alternative title,

“Opa’s Opus,” was based on the German “Opa,” roughly equivalent to a kind of

informal but respectful English “Grandpa”; my role as currently the oldest sur-

viving member of my large and supportive family and clan is indeed a core part

of my identity. Other titles have come to mind, but none have seemed truly ap-

propriate, although the present one feels sort of okay.

Several grandkids, kids, colleagues, and friends did suggest over the years

that I should write something about my life. It’s true that I have written quite a

few books, articles for technical journals, and other pieces, but almost all of them

viii Preface

have been about psychology. As a youngster, like almost all my contemporaries,

I tried my hand at composing poetry and generating short essays but, including a

few actually published in summer camp newsletters or even a college “literary

magazine,” few if any of them are all that memorable. Besides, they were all just

fiction or imagination.

So this task was a new one for me: not something semi-technical about psy-

chology or its history, nor something just made up for the fun of it: I should try

to record facts about my life. Facts. Or at least my best effort to remember

events, people, places in my life without their being only figments of my fallible

memory. Human memory being what it is, it is unlikely that everything one “re-

members” is actually factually true; human memory is notorious for being crea-

tive: many recollections of past events are distortions of veridical truth—or even

fabrications. But one should try to avoid recounting as fact anything about which

there is reasonable doubt. A daunting task, but it appeared likely to be fun to try

my hand at it nevertheless.

Every human life is unique. And given my belief, which I learned during my

college years from the Quakers, that “there is that of God in everyone,” every

human life is inherently and intrinsically valuable. Maybe there is even “some-

thing of God” in me, but I know that, like doubtless every other human being, I

have done many things which I now regret. Indeed, some of my misdeeds have

brought me to episodes of despair. But there have also been many things that

have happened to me, and even a few things that I have done, that I believe were

good. In fact, I have been blessed with so much, far more, I’m sure, than most of

the rest of humanity. And it is rather frightening to realize that there are now so

many of us—some seven billion, and increasing exponentially—who are all

trying to have the same privileges that have been my fortunate lot; the result is

that we are polluting our home planet and rapidly using up non-renewable re-

sources such as clean water, fossil fuels, and pure air. Unless the human race

manages to learn how to live productively and sparingly with the boons that the

earth provides, it is in danger of annihilating itself either by unbelievably effi-

cient weaponry or by simply using up limited and essential resources necessary

for sustaining not only human life but all other forms of life as well.

Preface ix

But now that my rich, full, sometimes frustrating but always privileged life is

approaching its end, even though my generation appears to have become aware

of the hazards awaiting our species unless it changes its profligate ways, it no

longer seems to be a task essential to my own generation to save our planet and

its resources for future generations. Yet that task is near at hand; my children,

my children’s children, and especially my great-grandchildren (of whom there

are now twelve) will not be able to avoid confronting the risks to the human

species in the way that my generation and its predecessors have. So, I do hope

that human ingenuity, sacrifice, courage, and determination will succeed in deal-

ing with this potentially enormous problem.

Such thoughts, though, stray from the present job. The task should be to tell

my story (which, like every biography, is both unique and also in a sense univer-

sal) dispassionately, accurately, and factually. I will endeavor to tell the truth,

and not limit the narrative to only the many good things I have experienced and

have done. The regretted, the unpleasant, even the unconscionable should at least

occasionally be recorded together with the positive. But there is no point in tell-

ing too much about the sleazy side of my life; yet I will try to be honest. If my

effort ends up offending someone, let me apologize for that here and now. But I

believe a reasonably straightforward account (in the sense of including much that

I happen to remember, both the good and even a bit of the bad) will be more

honest than a carefully edited and expurgated overly positive narrative.

What follows kept me occupied off and on for some seven years when other

chores weren’t screaming for higher priority. Much of it was first written not in

Boulder, Colorado, where I’ve been living for over half a century, but in Phoe-

nix, OR, or nearby Ashland, OR, while my wife Marilyn and I were visiting her

brother Jack Schuman there. Jack, retired from teaching the history of art at

Washington State University in Pullman, WA, is Marilyn’s only living blood

relative. He used to visit us for a couple of weeks in Boulder annually for many

years (and we’d visit him annually for two weeks in Washington and later the

Ashland, OR, region after he retired there), but during the last half decade or so

he preferred not to travel away from Oregon any more, so we’ve been visiting

him twice annually now for a couple of weeks at a time, lately in his cottage at a

retirement community in northern Ashland. Much of the manuscript for this

x Preface

project was first drafted there while Jack and Marilyn were taking naps or were

watching political shows on television of which I had experienced more than

enough for my taste.

My word-processing “equipment,” as it has been throughout my long career,

consisted of pencil, paper, and eraser; those first drafts were put into electronic

form by a granddaughter and great-granddaughter, and then my editing of that

material was duly made electronic by my daughter. I am deeply grateful to all

three of these generous and competent ladies. A fairly large number of friends

and relatives looked over the draft after that and made useful suggestions, many

of which were used to generate the version you have now. Remaining errors in it

are, of course, my fault (even though inadvertent).

Table of Contents

1 Childhood in Germany ....................................................................................1

2 Childhood in the United States ..................................................................... 17

3 Early Teen Years ........................................................................................... 41

4 College Years ................................................................................................ 59

5 Graduate School: Hopkins ............................................................................ 79

6 Graduate School: Harvard ............................................................................. 97

7 Wesleyan ..................................................................................................... 119

8 Early Years in Colorado .............................................................................. 137

9 Later Years in Colorado .............................................................................. 165

10 Years in a Retirement Community .............................................................. 199

11 Epilogue: Who Am I? ................................................................................. 215

Appendix A: Die Schöpfung der Welt .............................................................. 235

Appendix B: The Wertheimer Times ................................................................ 253

Appendix C: Val’s Autobiography ................................................................... 301

Appendix D: Curriculum Vitae ......................................................................... 323

Appendix E: Scholarly Efforts .......................................................................... 377

Appendix F: APA and Other Organizations ..................................................... 399

Appendix G: Artistic Fumblings ....................................................................... 423

Appendix H: Travels ......................................................................................... 483

Appendix I: Our Retirement Home ................................................................... 511

List of Figures

11 My mother when I was little ........................................................................... 1

1-2 My mother and father at their 1923 wedding ................................................. 2 1-3 Lisbeth Stern (then Schmidt), 1890 ................................................................ 3 1-4 My father playing his viola ............................................................................. 5 1-5 Me, about 1929 ............................................................................................... 6 1-6 My father and me, about 1929 ........................................................................ 7

1-7 Der Zupfgeigenhansl ...................................................................................... 8

1-8 “Bumsta” for my mother, about 1974............................................................. 9 1-9 Me in Lederhosen, about 1930 ..................................................................... 10

1-10 Gustav ......................................................................................................... 11 1-11 Kätti with Val, or perhaps me ..................................................................... 12

1-12 Val and my father, 1930 ............................................................................. 13 1-13 Painting of a family vacation, probably by Lisbeth Stern .......................... 14

1-14 My paternal grandfather, Wilhelm Wertheimer ......................................... 15 2-1 Die Goldene Harfe ........................................................................................ 17 2-2 Arrival in New York, September 1933 ......................................................... 19

2-3 The Circle, seen from above ......................................................................... 20 2-4 12 The Circle, New Rochelle. This photo is probably by Val. ..................... 21

2-5 Rosa Mae Anderson ..................................................................................... 23 2-6 My father working in Lise’s room ................................................................ 24

2-7 Albert Dixon ................................................................................................. 25

2-8 Mayflower elementary school, New Rochelle .............................................. 27 2-9 Me, Lise, and Val, mid-1930s ...................................................................... 28

2-10 Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. Algernon D. Black ........................................... 29 2-11 Adjustable lamp made by me ..................................................................... 30 2-12 Campers at the Ethical Culture School Camp ............................................ 31

2-13 Pete at the tiller of the Uncle George ......................................................... 32 2-14 The boat bookcase and the bottom of the boat’s mast ................................ 33

2-15 Bobbie, Val’s bride, with Val, 1948 ........................................................... 34

xiv List of Figures

2-16 The boys’ line at ECSC .............................................................................. 37

2-17 The girls’ line at ECSC ............................................................................... 37 2-18 Approaching the ECSC Main House .......................................................... 37

2-19 A small tray which my mother painted for me ........................................... 38 2-20 Note from my father, Christmas, 1942 ....................................................... 40 2-21 Masthead of Volume I, Issue 1 of The Wertheimer Times ......................... 40 3-1 Me on a bicyle, in my teens .......................................................................... 41 3-2 Peter as a toddler .......................................................................................... 42

3-3 Schani ........................................................................................................... 43 3-4 Peter spraying Lise, 12 The Circle ............................................................... 44 3-5 The waterfront at the ECSC ......................................................................... 45

3-6 Me as counselor, with the five boys in my tent, 1946 .................................. 46 3-7 A classic formal portrait of my father........................................................... 48 3-8 Anni and Schani’s house at 25 Beachfern Road, Center Moriches .............. 49

3-9 Lise and me in a snow igloo, 1942 ............................................................... 51

3-10 The “Christmas table” that I wasn’t allowed to paint ................................. 52 3-11 Mathematician Richard Courant ................................................................. 55 3-12 Rudolf Arnheim, Lise, and me, about 1940 ................................................ 56

3-13 Solomon Asch ............................................................................................ 57 3-14 Verses sending me off to college, from Lise; ............................................. 58

4-1 Main building of Swarthmore College: Parrish Hall .................................... 59 4-2 Wolfgang Köhler ......................................................................................... 60 4-3 Miss Philips, French professor at Swarthmore ............................................ 61

4-4 Maurice Mandelbaum .................................................................................. 62 4-5 Karl Reuning ............................................................................................... 62

4-6 Dr. Silz ........................................................................................................ 62 4-7 Robbie MacLeod .......................................................................................... 62 4-8 Wystan Hugh Auden .................................................................................... 63

4-9 TV set much like the first one I ever saw ..................................................... 63 4-10 Friends Meeting Hall, Swarthmore College campus .................................. 64 4-11 Stefan Machlup as a student at Swarthmore .............................................. 66

4-12 A historic poster of Stowe, including the Lord Trail .................................. 68 4-13 Cross-country skiing in my modest uniform .............................................. 68

List of Figures xv

4-14 Brad Fisk ................................................................................................... 68

4-15 Larry Weiskrantz as a student at Swarthmore ........................................... 69 4-16 George Yntema .......................................................................................... 69

4-17 Douwe Yntema .......................................................................................... 69 4-18 John Pessolano .......................................................................................... 70 4-19 Howard Sachar .......................................................................................... 70 4-20 H. C. R. Landon in later years .................................................................... 70 4-21 John Rosselli .............................................................................................. 71

4-22 Amy Roosevelt .......................................................................................... 71 4-23 David Beardslee ......................................................................................... 71 4-24 Jane Torrey ................................................................................................ 72

4-25 Rachel Hare ............................................................................................... 72 4-26 Enid ............................................................................................................ 73 4-27 Janet Gay ................................................................................................... 74

4-28 Elizabeth .................................................................................................... 74

4-29 Silvia Rosselli and me ................................................................................ 76 5-1 Part of the Johns Hopkins University’s Baltimore Homewood campus ....... 79 5-2 Me in 1949.................................................................................................... 80

5-3 My draft card ................................................................................................ 82 5-4 Alphonse Chapanis ...................................................................................... 83

5-5 Wendell “Tex” Garner .................................................................................. 84 5-6 Clifford T. Morgan ....................................................................................... 85 5-7 Fritz Machlup ............................................................................................... 86

5-8 Hans Wallach .............................................................................................. 89 5-9 Richard “Dick” Held .................................................................................... 90

5-10 Ulric “Dick” Neisser .................................................................................. 91 5-11 Schani and Anni, probably on Long Island, 1950 ...................................... 93 5-12 The dining room at the Hopkins Faculty Club ........................................... 94

5-13 The game room in the Hopkins Faculty Club ............................................. 95 6-1 Pete Dodge .................................................................................................. 97 6-2 Bill McGill ................................................................................................... 97

6-3 Memorial Hall .............................................................................................. 98 6-4 Edwin Garrigues (“Gary”) Boring ................................................................ 99

xvi List of Figures

6-5 Karl S. Lashley ............................................................................................. 99

6-6 John G. Beebe-Center ................................................................................. 101 6-7 Donald Olding Hebb................................................................................... 102

6-8 Edwin B. (“Eddie”) Newman ..................................................................... 103 6-9 Burrhus Frederick Skinner ......................................................................... 104 6-10 Pigeon ping-pong table ............................................................................. 105 6-11 Ward Edwards ......................................................................................... 106 6-12 Nan and me, early 1950s .......................................................................... 107

6-13 “Smitty” (S. S.) Stevens ........................................................................... 108 6-14 Carl Leventhal .......................................................................................... 109 6-15 Robert W. White ....................................................................................... 110

6-16 Bridge over Lake Quinsigamond, Worcester, MA ................................... 110 6-17 Me on the Moth Ktchoo ............................................................................ 111 6-18 Worcester State Hospital .......................................................................... 112

6-19 Heinz Werner ........................................................................................... 114

6-20 Seymour (“Sy”) Wapner ........................................................................... 115 6-21 William (“Bill”) Verplanck later in his career .......................................... 116 6-22 Wood carving by Nan on the occasion of me earning my PhD ................ 117

7-1 Gilbert White .............................................................................................. 119 7-2 David C. McClelland .................................................................................. 120

7-3 Our residence community in Middletown .................................................. 120 7-4 Joseph (“Joe”) Greenbaum ......................................................................... 121 7-5 Richard (“Dick”) de Charms ..................................................................... 122

7-6 Elliot Aronson ............................................................................................ 122 7-7 Richard (“Dick”) Alpert, later Ram Dass ................................................... 122

7-8 Jerome S. (“Jerry”) Bruner ........................................................................ 123 7-9 Leo Postman ............................................................................................... 123 7-10 Pup tent used to camp at the Montreal congress ....................................... 124

7-11 Jean Piaget ................................................................................................ 125 7-12 Eckhardt Hess .......................................................................................... 125 7-13 “Honey” Dwyer ........................................................................................ 126

7-14 Me “working” ........................................................................................... 126 7-15 Characteristic sketch by Nan, from our early years .................................. 127

List of Figures xvii

7-16 Nan and me, 1952 ..................................................................................... 127

7-17 Nan’s mother Lavinia, me, Karen, and Nan in 1952 ................................ 128 7-18 Duffy and Lise, 1954 ................................................................................ 128

7-19 My vegetable patch in Middletown .......................................................... 129 7-20 Karen in 1954 ........................................................................................... 129 7-21 Shadrach, Karen, and me outside our home in Middletown ..................... 130 7-22 “Cap’n” (Percy MacKaye)........................................................................ 132 7-23 Benton MacKaye (“Uncle Benton”) ......................................................... 132

7-24 Robin MacKaye, 1955 .............................................................................. 133 7-25 Nan’s mother, Lavinia .............................................................................. 133 7-26 Mount Desert Island, Maine ..................................................................... 134

7-27 Pete at my reed organ; boat bookcase in the rear ..................................... 135 7-28 Lise’s painting of the view from our Middletown home .......................... 136 8-1 Flatirons over the University of Colorado at Boulder ................................ 137

8-2 Nan, Karen, and Duffy’s playpen in Knezzar on the way to Colorado ...... 138

8-3 A section of the view looking west over Boulder; Longs Peak at right ...... 139 8-4 Apartments on Athens Street ...................................................................... 139 8-5 Crossing Boulder Creek ............................................................................. 140

8-6 Macky Auditorium ..................................................................................... 140 8-7 Victor (“Vic”) Raimy ................................................................................. 141

8-8 Karl Muenzinger ......................................................................................... 142 8-9 Maurice P. (“Maury”) Smith ...................................................................... 143 8-10 Marv Nachman ......................................................................................... 143

8-11 Me at the Colorado Mountain Club cabin near Brainard Lake ................. 144 8-12 The back of our Columbine Avenue house .............................................. 145

8-13 Kenneth Hammond ................................................................................... 145 8-14 Ken Hammond leading his horse (with Karen riding it)........................... 145 8-15 Dick Jessor ............................................................................................... 146

8-16 Lee Jessor ................................................................................................. 146 8-17 The Jessor house on Sixth Street .............................................................. 146 8-18 The Flatirons; Third Flatiron on the left ................................................... 147

8-19 Bob Elder climbing a Flatiron .................................................................. 148 8-20 Me on the summit of the First Flatiron; Boulder below ........................... 148

xviii List of Figures

8-21 Pat Capretta climbing a Flatiron ............................................................... 149

8-22 Left: The Devil’s Thumb as seen from our patio ...................................... 149 8-23 Bill Scott ................................................................................................... 150

8-24 Rockland State Hospital ........................................................................... 151 8-25 George A. C. Scherer ................................................................................ 152 8-26 Stuart W. Cook ........................................................................................ 152 8-27 Glenn Terrell ............................................................................................ 153 8-28 Howard Gruber ........................................................................................ 153

8-29 O. J. Harvey .............................................................................................. 154 8-30 Jack Ogilvy ............................................................................................... 155 8-31 Joseph W. (“Joe”) Cohen ......................................................................... 156

8-32 Me coiling climbing rope ......................................................................... 158 8-33 Left to right: Karen, Benjy, Duffy, 1963 .................................................. 158 8-34 Me with Duff’s son Noah in the Agnes Vail hut on Longs Peak.............. 159

8-35 Duff, Noah, and me enjoying canned sardines on Longs Peak................. 159

8-36 Me, Karen, and Karen’s friend Don Leaver on Longs Peak ..................... 159 8-37 The free rappel on the descent of the Maiden ........................................... 160 8-38 Harold Walton .......................................................................................... 161

8-39 Prince Willmon ......................................................................................... 161 8-40 1313 Seventh Street, Boulder ................................................................... 163

8-41 546 Geneva, Boulder, in 1962 .................................................................. 163 8-42 Left to right: Duffy, Nan, Lavinia, Karen, me, Benjy .............................. 164 9-1 739 Lincoln Place, Boulder ........................................................................ 165

9-2 546 Geneva Avenue, Boulder, 2010 ........................................................... 166 9-3 My favorite picture of Nan, taken when she was six .................................. 167

9-4 Nan’s mother, Lavinia, 1946 ...................................................................... 168 9-5 Nan’s father, “Robin” (Robert Keith MacKaye) ........................................ 168 9-6 Nan’s and my wedding, Tenafly, 1950 ....................................................... 168

9-7 My mother’s wedding plaque for us ........................................................... 168 9-8 Duffy, Nan, Karen, Jeanie with her children, and me, 1956 ....................... 169 9-9 Nan in the 1980s ......................................................................................... 170

9-10 Anni with Marilyn and me at our wedding, Washington, DC, 1970 ........ 172 9-11 Marilyn and me in our later years ............................................................. 173

List of Figures xix

9-12 Nan and me ............................................................................................... 173

9-13 Our cabin near Ward, with my granddaughter Malca............................... 175 9-14 The kitchen area in our cabin (a montage of two photos) ......................... 176

9-15 Marion White McPherson and John A. Popplestone ............................... 178 9-16 David Baker .............................................................................................. 178 9-17 The Pali ridge on Oahu ............................................................................. 179 9-18 A husk fresh off a coconut ........................................................................ 179 9-19 The sennit I braided .................................................................................. 179

9-20 Mats Björkman ......................................................................................... 180 9-21 John Haas ................................................................................................. 181 9-22 Philip Zimbardo ....................................................................................... 182

9-23 Lothar Sprung ........................................................................................... 182 9-24 Wolfgang Schönpflug ............................................................................... 182 9-25 Viktor Sarris ............................................................................................. 183

9-26 Horst Gundlach ......................................................................................... 183

9-27 Mary Ann Tucker ..................................................................................... 183 9-28 Val, Lise, Anni, Pete, and me, 1978 ......................................................... 184 9-29 Christmas in Boulder in the 1970s: me, Pete, Anni, and Val ................... 184

9-30 Bobbie ...................................................................................................... 184 9-31 Letter from Rosa when Val died ............................................................... 185

9-32 Pete and Susan .......................................................................................... 186 9-33 Lise and Mike ........................................................................................... 186 9-34 Monika, Chloe, Nicholas, and Claudio ..................................................... 187

9-35 Lise and Mike’s daughter Rachel with her son Jason ............................... 187 9-36 Ellen and Dave in 1969 ............................................................................ 187

9-37 Karen, Duffy, and Benjy in 1964 ............................................................. 188 9-38 Karen and her husband Jim, 1976 ............................................................ 188 9-39 Duffy with his wife Carla and their oldest three kids, 1989 ..................... 189

9-40 Benjy and Heather .................................................................................... 189 9-41 Me with my first grandchild, Rivka, in 1980 ............................................ 190 9-42 Me with my first great-grandchild, Cassidy, in 2008 ............................... 190

9-43 My grandson Noah and me, 1981 ............................................................. 190 9-44 Rachel helping me reshingle the shed, 1977............................................. 191

xx List of Figures

9-45 My grandson Svi watching Pete and me in 1987...................................... 192

9-46 Dorinda and Jack ...................................................................................... 193 9-47 Pete, Lise, me at family reunion in 2013 .................................................. 194

9-48 My birthday cake with Flatirons photo, 2017 ........................................... 195 9-49 Marilyn on the deck at 546 Geneva .......................................................... 196 10-1 Karen, Benjy, Nan, Duffy, and me in Pearl River, 1958 .......................... 200 10-2 My office at the University of Colorado ................................................... 201 10-3 The sign by the road for the Meridian ...................................................... 202

10-4 The Peck House in Empire, Colorado ...................................................... 203 10-5 The northern portion of the “back yard” in summer ................................. 204 10-6 The southern portion of the “back yard” in winter ................................... 205

10-7 The dining room at the Meridian .............................................................. 206 10-8 The lily pond at the Meridian ................................................................... 207 10-9 Marilyn and me on a horse-drawn carriage ride ....................................... 208

10-10 Marilyn, me, and Judy Epstein on a Meridian picnic ............................. 209

10-11 Bill Weber .............................................................................................. 210 10-12 “Night on the Nile” at the Meridian ....................................................... 211 10-13 Marilyn and me at an “Anniversary Dinner” .......................................... 212

B-1 Karin Köhler ............................................................................................. 253 B-2 Masthead of Vol. I, Issue 1 of The Wertheimer Times ............................... 254

B-3 A hectograph .............................................................................................. 256 B-4 Gertrud (“Du-du”) Courant in later years .................................................. 257 B-5 Clara Woolie Mayer................................................................................... 258

B-6 Index for Volume I, Issue 1 of The Wertheimer Times .............................. 261 B-7 The Wertheimer Times: Volume 1, Issue 1, page 5 .................................... 263

B-8 The Wertheimer Times, Volume I, Issue 2, page 1 .................................... 265 B-9 Headline announcing the contest in The Wertheimer Times ...................... 267 B-10 Lise’s shoeshine advertisement ................................................................ 269

B-11 Kurt Safranski .......................................................................................... 271 B-12 A letter from the Rosenbergs ................................................................... 273 B-13 Fritz Kortner ............................................................................................ 275

B-14 Coupon for a free book ............................................................................ 277 B-15 Abraham Maslow .................................................................................... 280

List of Figures xxi

B-16 Amateur theatricals by Tante Lotte and her sisters .................................. 281

B-17 Erwin Levy .............................................................................................. 282 B-18 Autographed photo of Lise ...................................................................... 284

B-19 Autographed photo of me ........................................................................ 284 B-20 Barbara Burks .......................................................................................... 285 B-21 Bronx Whitestone Bridge ........................................................................ 287 B-22 The Wertheimer Times: Volume 2, Issue 2, page 3 .................................. 288 B-23 The “Voder” at the 1939 New York World’s Fair ................................... 289

B-24 New York 1939 World’s Fair: Trylon and Perisphere ............................. 290 B-25 A concert at Lewisohn Stadium ............................................................... 292 B-26 Kurt and Nellie Friedrichs ....................................................................... 293

B-27 Ruth Nanda Anshen ................................................................................. 294 B-28 Willys Peck Kent (“Uncle Willys”) ......................................................... 297 E-1 Marilyn looking at a Meridian display of books ........................................ 377

E-2 Readings in Perception .............................................................................. 379

E-3 Productive Thinking ................................................................................... 379 E-4 Kai von Fieandt .......................................................................................... 380 E-5 A Psycholinguistic Experiment in Foreign-Language Teaching ................ 380

E-6 A Brief History of Psychology and Fundamental Issues in Psychology ..... 381 E-7 Psychology and the Problems of Today ..................................................... 382

E-8 APA books on introductory psychology .................................................... 382 E-9 Wayne Viney ............................................................................................ 383 E-10 A History of Regional Organizations in American Psychology ............... 383

E-11 Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology......................................................... 384 E-12 An Oral History of Psi Chi ....................................................................... 384

E-13 D. Brett King ........................................................................................... 385 E-14 Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Theory ....................................................... 386 E-15 Lothar Spillmann...................................................................................... 387

E-16 Laws of Seeing ......................................................................................... 387 E-17 On Perceived Motion and Figural Organization ..................................... 388 E-18 Introduction to Psychological Research .................................................. 389

E-19 Charles E. Osgood.................................................................................... 391 E-20 Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects ....................................... 392

xxii List of Figures

E-21 Margaret Altmann .................................................................................... 394

E-22 Mary Henle ............................................................................................. 394 E-23 Karl Duncker ............................................................................................ 394

E-24 Raymond Corsini ..................................................................................... 395 E-25 Neal Miller .............................................................................................. 395 E-26 Rosalind Franklin ..................................................................................... 395 E-27 Me with my father’s tachistoscope .......................................................... 397 F-1 Walter (“Wally”) Weir ............................................................................... 399

F-2 Nathan S. Kline .......................................................................................... 401 F-3 Steve Davis................................................................................................. 402 F-4 History of psychology in the Rocky Mountain region ............................... 403

F-5 Ira Hirsh ..................................................................................................... 404 F-6 Pete and Susan’s house in Washington, DC ............................................... 405 F-7 Chamber music in Anni’s Georgetown apartment ..................................... 406

F-8 Ken Little .................................................................................................. 409

F-9 Rachel Hare-Mustin ................................................................................... 411 F-10 Recognition for my G. Stanley Hall lecture ............................................. 411 F-11 A newspaper announcement of my APA award ....................................... 413

F-12 Proceedings of the 1994 APA conference ................................................ 414 F-13 APA Board of Directors in 2008 .............................................................. 416

F-14 The previous APA building, where I worked 1970-1971 ........................ 418 F-15 The larger of the two new APA buildings, constructed in 1990 .............. 419 F-16 Recognition for participating on the APA Policy and Planning Board .... 420

F-17 Award ceremony for excellence in use of non-sexist language................ 421 F-18 Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Award ................................ 422

G-1 The family orchestra: Max, Val, me, Anni, Lise ....................................... 424 G-2 Mayflower School assembly song book .................................................... 424 G-3 The “new musical instrument” I “thought up” at the age of 11 ................. 425

G-4 Nick Vovcsko ............................................................................................ 426 G-5 Me and my harmonica, 2009 ..................................................................... 426 G-6 A squeezebox much like the one I played long ago ................................... 427

G-7 An ocarina just like mine ........................................................................... 428 G-8 Me playing the ukelin at 546 Geneva ........................................................ 428

List of Figures xxiii

G-9 My granddaughter Rivka and me at the reed organ ................................... 428

G-10 Me transporting tympani, in college ....................................................... 429 G-11 Benjy and me drumming, 2017 ............................................................... 429

G-12 In October, 1945, I made a booklet of three little pieces for Pete............ 430 G-13 My outline notes for Sonata Number ½ ................................................... 431 G-14 Nan’s theme, originally one of the themes in Sonata No. ½ .................... 431 G-15 “Häuschen und Garten” ........................................................................... 432 G-16 “Schlaf’, mein Kindchen” and another lullaby for my first child ............ 433

G-17 A composition from 1958, dubbed by Karen “Dance for children” ........ 434 G-18 Theme of Triumph, opening theme ......................................................... 434 G-19 “Despair” from Some Poems ................................................................... 435

G-20 This “ode” is clearly a lament about my mother ...................................... 436 G-21 Two unhappy poems added to Some Poems on the same day ................. 437 G-22 Parts of this poem have recurred to my mind ever since I wrote it. ......... 437

G-23 Most of the poems are despondent, but not “Schnitzel-tree” ................... 438

G-24 Fragment from Ogden Nash .................................................................... 439 G-25 “Evening Becomes Electric” ................................................................... 441 G-26 “Spring,” written spring 1945 .................................................................. 441

G-27 “Words Without Meaning,” spring 1945 ................................................. 443 G-28 “Phantasmagoria,” winter 1944 ............................................................... 446

G-29 The Dodo ................................................................................................ 446 G-30 “Pensamiento” from the Dodo, February 1946 ........................................ 447 G-31 “Of Impure Reason” from the Dodo, spring 1946 ................................... 449

G-32 “Till Death Do Us Part” from the Dodo, spring 1946 ............................. 449 G-33 A plaster walking cast .............................................................................. 450

G-34 W. H. Auden’s review of The Taming of the Shrew ................................ 451 G-35 A lecture hall with vertically movable chalkboards at Hopkins .............. 452 G-36 The script for “Patients” .......................................................................... 453

G-37 “After finishing The Wind in the Willows” .............................................. 469 G-38 “The cold silvery moon” .......................................................................... 469 G-39 Pages from Karen’s Book of Things to Do .............................................. 471

G-40 The “hand-out” version of my APA Board of Directors doggerel........... 473 G-41 The “read-out” version of my APA Board of Directors doggerel ........... 474

xxiv List of Figures

G-42 “A ketch, upon the whitecaps” ................................................................ 475

G-43 Oil painting when I was fifteen ............................................................... 476 G-44 Ketch drawn by me .................................................................................. 476

G-45 Fantasy yawl drawn by me ...................................................................... 477 G-46 Colored pencil collage from the early 1950s ........................................... 477 G-47 Colored pencil sketch from the early 1950s ............................................ 477 G-48 Final version of black tree, 1950 ............................................................. 478 G-49 Self-portrait at ECSC ............................................................................... 478

G-50 Photo of clock tower in Worcester .......................................................... 479 G-51 Photo of lightning in Worcester ............................................................... 479 G-52 Sketch of our home in Worcester, with the boat bookcase ...................... 479

G-53 Movie frame of colored drawings “dancing” on the white leader ........... 479 G-54 Movie frames of scenery on the drive to Montreal, 1954 ........................ 480 G-55 Movie frame of a blanket “swallowing” a wastebasket ........................... 480

G-56 Movie frames of linoleum shapes moving ............................................... 481

G-57 The unwarping pile .................................................................................. 481 H-1 The RMS Majestic ..................................................................................... 484 H-2 Hotel Holley, New York ............................................................................ 485

H-3 Skiing at Stowe in the 1940s ..................................................................... 486 H-4 Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Monument.......................................... 487

H-5 The drum we got in the Cochiti village ..................................................... 487 H-6 Vernet-les-Bains ....................................................................................... 489 H-7 Monhegan Island, Maine .......................................................................... 489

H-8 Austrian countryside ................................................................................. 490 H-9 Novosibirsk, Siberia ................................................................................. 490

H-10 Inti Raymi ceremony .............................................................................. 492 H-11 Dorcas Tabitha Smith Calquehoun, 1854 ................................................ 493 H-12 Ronald Bernier ......................................................................................... 493

H-13 Near Aurangabad, India .......................................................................... 494 H-14 Korea house ............................................................................................ 495 H-15 Toshogu shrine, Japan ............................................................................ 495

H-16 St. Martin du Canigou, on Canigou (Dog’s Tooth) ................................ 496 H-17 Le cirque de Gavarnie ............................................................................. 497

List of Figures xxv

H-18 Me with the cairn I constructed for Anni at just over 16,500 feet .......... 498

H-19 Kamenice nad Lipou, Czechoslovakia .................................................... 499 H-20 Anni ......................................................................................................... 499

H-21 The Sea Cloud in St. Lucia harbor .......................................................... 500 H-22 New Zealand ........................................................................................... 500 H-23 Sahara encampment, Morocco ................................................................ 501 H-24 Me with a moai on Easter island ............................................................. 501 H-25 Copper Canyon, Mexico ......................................................................... 502

H-26 Cappadocia ............................................................................................. 502 H-27 The Abercrombie .................................................................................... 504 H-28 Skjervøy, Norway ................................................................................... 505

H-29 A town in Cinque Terre .......................................................................... 505 H-30 The Explorer ........................................................................................... 506 H-31 Prize-winning photo “Les Demoiselles de Dominica” ............................ 506

H-32 Mike after a concert, with his piano teacher Pei-Fen Liu and Lise .......... 507

H-33 Wooden church, Kizhi Island ................................................................. 508 H-34 Ruskin Estate, Lake District, England .................................................... 509 I-1 Making ski tracks west of our Meridian patio ............................................. 511

I-2 Patio “smoking lounge” in winter ............................................................... 513 I-3 Me near my garden at our retirement home ................................................ 514

I-4 The main entrance to the Meridian.............................................................. 516 I-5 Caricature of my father, and two Feininger paintings ................................. 517 I-6 Candleholder from Kai von Fieandt ............................................................ 518

I-7 Plate from Hong Kong ................................................................................ 519 I-8 Swiss model of a cozy mountain cabin ....................................................... 520

I-9 Tiles and salt container by my mother, and other stuff ............................... 521 I-10 One of the Hmong embroideries ............................................................... 522 I-11 The “monster” ........................................................................................... 523

I-12 The floor plan of our apartment ................................................................ 525 I-13 A drawing by my grandson Mike .............................................................. 526 I-14 My main “working desk” .......................................................................... 527

I-15 Cuckoo clock ............................................................................................. 528 I-16 Cork cabin ................................................................................................. 529

xxvi List of Figures

I-17 Chinese painting ........................................................................................ 529

I-18 Wooden Chinese hanging ......................................................................... 530 I-19 Dancer by Nan and dancer from Bali ........................................................ 530

I-20 Statuette by Lisbeth Stern ......................................................................... 531 I-21 The mantel over the gas fireplace ............................................................. 531 I-22 House plants, dictionary, and encyclopedia .............................................. 532 I-23 My “bibliophilia” ...................................................................................... 534 I-24 An example of a ukelin ............................................................................. 534

I-25 Nude by Nan, four views .......................................................................... 535 I-26 Dish for found coins .................................................................................. 536 I-27 The “night before” set-up in the kitchen ................................................... 537

I-28 The view at breakfast: treasures on the west wall of our bedroom ........... 539 I-29 My pipe drying at the corner of the patio .................................................. 541 I-30 Marilyn on our patio in summer ................................................................ 542

I-31 Me in 2019 ................................................................................................ 542

1 Childhood in Germany

My paternal ancestry is already fairly well documented in the biography of my

father, Max Wertheimer, published by Transaction Publishers of Rutgers Univer-

sity Press in 2005, and in other places, so I needn’t elaborate on it too much here.

But a few thoughts nonetheless:

I was early informed that there was a Baron von Wertheim in my ancestry,

probably sometime in the 18th

century, that Wertheim is a venerable town in

what is now Germany, and that for some reason he decided to drop the “von”

from the family name and changed it to “Wertheimer.”

“Wertheimer” in German of course means someone from Wertheim, as “von

Wertheim” also meant. And “Wertheim” meant and means something like “val-

ued” or “valuable” home: the German “Wert” or “value” is a cognate of English

“worth”; the German “Heim” is a cognate of the English word “home.” I recall

hearing that there used to be a family coat of arms, consisting of a string of

pearls above a bucket or pail; the string of pearls symbolized value or worthiness

(German “Wert” or, in the older spelling, “Werth”) and the pail is a kind of pun

on the German “Eimer,” or bucket. Whether this

coat of arms ever truly existed or whether my

father or one of his ancestors made it up as a

kind of joke will never be known.

My mother, Anni Caro, came of physicians’

families on both sides. Her father, Rudolph Ca-

ro, was the son of a doctor and a doctor himself;

he died young because he became mortally in-

fected by a patient. Two of her mother’s uncles

were doctors, and her mother’s brother, Ludwig

Pick, was a pathologist known for his contribu-

tions to the understanding of Niemann-Pick

disease and the rare Lubarsch-Pick syndrome (as

well as a rabbi who in 1912 published a short

book titled Die Weltanschauung des Judentums 11 My mother when I was little (family archives)

© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2020M. Wertheimer, Facets of an Academic’s Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28770-2_1

http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/978-3-658-28770-2_1&domain=pdf


[The World View of

Judaism] and, like one

of my mother’s two

sisters, died in a Nazi

concentration camp).

My father and mother

were a rather unlikely

couple; she was some

twenty years younger

than he. They were mar-

ried in Berlin, where she

was a university student.

She told me that she fell in love with my father’s Gestalt theory, about which she

heard him lecture, and married him to make sure that he would have offspring.

Family lore has it that he had been in love with a sister of the renowned artist

Käthe Kollwitz, Lisbeth Stern. Lisbeth at the time was married to a successful

industrialist, Georg Stern. My father was actually for years a member of the

Berlin household of Georg and Lisbeth Stern; the couple had four daughters, all

of whom were also fond of my father. I have wondered about the nature of this

“ménage à trois” since my childhood, when I first heard about it, but never did

find out all that much about it. I do know that Georg wrote the music for an

opera that he and my mother planned to write; it was never completed. I recall a

brief passage from it; when or how I found out about it I don’t recall (“Herodes

sprach: ‘Kommt ’rein zu mir; ich will Euch geben Wein und Bier. Ich will Euch

geben Nahrung.’” [“Herod spoke: ‘Come in to me; I want to give you wine and

beer. I want to give you nourishment.’”]).

Lisbeth wrote and illustrated a wonderful simplified account of Genesis in the

Bible, with carefully done and beautiful watercolor paintings of the biblical

events, dedicated to “Wertheimer’s children” (in German, of course), a hand-

1-2 My mother and father at their 1923 wedding (family archives)

Childhood in Germany 3

made book from 1936 or 1937 that I still own. A

copy of this book appears in Appendix A. On my

fireplace mantelpiece, I also have a striking small

clay sculpture of a destitute elderly woman sit-

ting with a baby at her feet, also made by Lisbeth

Stern. (There is a picture of this statuette on page

531.) Käthe Kollwitz at some point apparently

claimed that her sister Lisbeth was at least as

good an artist as she herself was.

I also remember in detail a mournful, tragic

old song, in minor and in dialect, which we were

told was a favorite of Käthe Kollwitz, and which

became a beloved part of the many songs sung

by my family when I was a child:

Es soll sich kein Mensch mit der Liebe abgeben.

Sie brachte so manchen jungen Kerl ums Leben.

Nu hat mir mein Truschel die Treu ufgesaget;

Ik hab se verklaget.

Tü te rü tü tü tü, Tü te rü tü tü tü.

Dat kommt wenn man d’ Mädchen zum Tanze lasst gahne.

Da muss man ja immer in Sorgen erstahne:

Dass sie sich verlieben in andere Knechte;

Solch’ Menschen sind schlechte.


Und bin ich gestorben, so lasst mich begrabe’.

Und lasst mir sechs hölzerne Bretter abschlage’.

Zwei feurige Herzen die sollt ihr druf mahle.

Ik kanns’ ja bezahle.


Und lasst mir auch singen die Sterbegesänge.

Da liegt nun der Esel die Kreuz und die Länge.

Im Leben da hatt’ er manch’ Liebesaffäre;

Zu Dreck muss er were.


1-3 Lisbeth Stern (then Schmidt),

1890 (courtesy of Kollwitz estate ©

Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne)


Translation:

No person should give in to love.

It brought quite a few young fellows to end their lives.

Now my beloved has broken her betrothal;

I took her to court.

Tü te rü tü tü tü, Tü te rü tü tü tü [nonsense syllables].

That’s what happens if you let the girls go to the dance.

You always have to fall into worries—

That they will fall in love with other fellows;

Such people are bad.


And when I die, let me be buried.

And let six wooden boards be cut for me.

Two fiery hearts should you paint on them;

I can pay for it.


And let the dirges also be sung for me.

There the donkey lies all stretched out.

In life he had some love affairs;

To dirt he must return.


My daughter came up with the following translation, which isn’t quite as lit-

eral but does fit the rhyming pattern and melody of the German version even

better:

Now love is a thing one should never give in to;

It’s ended some young men and all they have been through.

She said we would wed, now says I was on trial;

My complaint is on file.


That happens if you let girls go out to dances;

Your grief is begun and goodbye to your chances.

They’ll fall for new guys and forget what you had;

Such people are ba-ad.


Childhood in Germany 5

And when I have died, let me buriéd be.

And let them cut six wooden boards out for me.

Paint two fiery hearts on the sides of the boards flat;

My estate can afford that.


And let them sing dirges—I know they have practice:

Stretched out in that coffin there lies one more jackass.

In life he went through some affairs of the heart;

From this world he must part.


My mother and father were married in 1923, after my father had taken his be-

trothed to play string quartet with his friend the famous physicist Albert Einstein

and his wife. My mother reported that on that occasion Einstein’s wife was wear-

ing ribbons crossed over her nose which, it turned out, were there to hide an

insect bite, and that Einstein did not play the violin very well. My father played

viola and my mother second violin. She didn’t report who was playing cello.

Their first child, named Rudolf after my mother’s father, died a few weeks af-

ter he was born, of an infection in his navel. Their next son, Valentin Jakob

Thomas, was born May 12, 1925, and had a minor heart arrhythmia at birth (he

died suddenly at age 53 in 1978 after being a highly successful lawyer for the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union in New York). And then I was born on

March 20, 1927, in Berlin (the district of Karlshorst). My sister, Lise, was born

there too, on October 12, 1928.

⁂

Early childhood memories

tend to be sparse and often

somewhat inaccurate. Not sur-

prisingly, I have no memories

of Berlin. The family moved to

Frankfurt in 1929 and I do have

a few rudimentary memories

from my four years there, from

1929 to 1933. 1-4 My father playing his viola (family archives)


But first a few comments about our

names. As I just mentioned, Rudolf

Wilhelm Walter Georg, the first born,

was named after my mother’s father.

The middle names were probably for

my father’s father Wilhelm and for

my father’s then-deceased older

brother Walter—and possibly Georg

Stern.

According to family lore, Valentin

was named after a town in Switzer-

land, St. Valentin, where he was pre-

sumably conceived. Jakob was the

name of Max’s mother’s brother

(Onkel Jakob), so that may be where

Val’s first middle name came from.

Why he had a second middle name, I

don’t know, and I am unaware of any

Thomas among any of our ancestors.

Lise was named Lisbeth Ruszena: the first name is clearly after my father’s

long-time first love, Lisbeth Stern, and the second is Czech, Rosa in English, the

same as my father’s mother’s name. The sources of my own names are another

story; I have no idea where either Michael or Matthew (Mathias, on my birth

certificate) came from.

I have been fascinated by names since my earliest years. I am also aware of

the many names that have been used for me during my own lifetime. I presume

that it is true of most people that there are strict rules about who may use which

names for whom under what particular circumstances; many taboos apply to the

use of names. Use of a “wrong” name at any time can be a source of insult, em-

barrassment, confusion, and even offense. In my case, depending on various

relationships and various changes in my life, I have been Michel, Mikey,

Michelchen, Michael (with the German pronunciation that separates into three

syllables), Michael (English, two syllables), Sie, Du (the German second person

1-5 Me, about 1929 (family archives)

michael wertheimer facets of an academic’s life

Documents