ABSTRACT
Karl Spencer Lashley (1890–1958) was the pre-eminent scientist of brain and behavior during the first half of the 20 century. Beach, Hebb, Morgan, and Nissen (1960) have assembled 31 of his slightly more than 100 publications in a book entitled, The Neuropsychology of Lashley. In doing so, they focused on his scientific work. In keeping with the spirit of this volume, I attempt a more personal account of the man and his science. To this end, I have divided Lashley's life into four stages: (1) his upbringing, 1890–1905; (2) his preparation for a career in psychology, 1905–1917; (3) his appointments at universities, 1917–1942; and (4) his directorship of the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology and subsequent retirement, 1942–1958. The first of these periods is treated lightly; the remaining three are given more attention.
