James McKeen Cattell Is Best Known For:

First U.S. psychology professor Helped establish psychology as a legitimate science

Birth and Death:

James McKeen Cattell was born May 25, 1860 in Easton, Pennsylvania. He died January 20, 1944

Early Life:
James McKeen Cattell was the oldest child born to a wealthy family in Pennsylvania. His father, William, was a Presbyterian minister who later became the president of Easton College. His uncle was Alexander Gilmore Cattell, a U.S. Senator for New Jersey. Cattell attended Lafayette College starting at age 16 where he studied English literature. He later graduated with a M.A. degree. After visiting Germany for graduate study, Cattell met Wilhelm Wundt and developed an interest in psychology. After a brief stint studying at John Hopkins University, Cattell returned to Germany to serve as Wundt's assistant. Cattell went on to publish the first psychology dissertation by an American.

Career:
Cattell was awarded his Ph.D. in 1886 and became a lecturer at the University of Cambridge. He returned to the United States to teach psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and later at Columbia University. In 1895, he became the President of the American Psychological Association.

Contributions to Psychology:
Cattell is an important figure in psychology thanks to his work in intelligence, his use of quantitative methods and his focus on establishing psychology as a legitimate science. Early in its history, psychology was often viewed as a lesser science or even a pseudoscience. As Cattell explained in his 1895 APA address: "In the struggle for existence that obtains among the sciences psychology is continually gaining ground.... The academic growth of psychology in American during the past few years is almost without precedent.... Psychology is a required subject in the undergraduate curriculum ..., and among university courses psychology now rivals the other leading sciences in the number of students attracted and in the amount of original work accomplished." Cattell was also fundamental in establishing several major psychology journals including The Psychological Review, the Journal of Science and Popular Science Monthly, which later went on to become Popular Science.