ABSTRACT
Building on the work of Francis Galton, extending the work of Alfred Binet, and contradicting the work of Cesare Lombroso, Lewis Terman, Leta Hollingworth, and Catharine Cox Miles set in motion a series of studies that would provide the space from which the fi eld of gifted education would contract and expand during its nearly 100 years of existence. The intentions of their investigations differed in focus and meaning. Terman concentrated on description, defi nition, and identifi cation of giftedness and how this related to the prediction of future success. Hollingworth’s intentions lay in the description and education of the gifted. Cox also sought to describe the gifted genius but in an infi nitely different but no less scientifi c way than her contemporaries by employing methodologies of history and imposing them on psychological principles and theories. The greatness of their investigations stem from two aspects: (a) the innovativeness of their undertakings and (b) the sense making achieved from the sheer magnitude and scope of the data. Their investigations spawned conceptual and empirical activity that continues in the twenty-fi rst century.
