ABSTRACT
Raymond Bernard Cattell was born in Hill Top, Staffordshire, England, on March 20th, 1905 to Alfred Earnest Cattell and Mary Field. Later in his life Cattell would publish a personal account of his sailing experiences around the coastline and estuaries of Devon. Cattell graduated in 1924 at the age of 19 with a first-class degree in physics and chemistry. Cattell was closely involved in developing a new factor method to further study of Spearman’s theory of general intelligence, work which would eventually lead to an invitation to work at Thorndike’s lab at Columbia University. In 1997, the American Psychological Society named Cattell as their Gold Medal Award for a Life Time of Achievement in Psychological Science; an award which risked the destruction of his legacy. Although an eminent and prolific psychologist, Cattell’s style throughout his career was divisive and grandiose. Cattell attempted to address the misconceptions of his work in an open letter published in the New York Times.
