(I) In our reading of A Brief History of Modern Psychology, it
became apparent just how crucial Hermann von Helmholtz was to the advancement
of psychology and science. The work of Helmholtz was invaluable across
disciplines and across fields. The author describes his extensive contribution
in the field of optics: he invented the ophthalmoscope, as well as the
ophthalmometer, that are still used in present day to view the retina and to
examine the eye’s curvature, respectively, during eye exams (Benjamin, 2014).
Benjamin (2014) notes the other accomplishments of Helmholtz: an improved
stopwatch, the Young-Helmholtz theory of color vision, a theory of pitch
perception (i.e. resonance or place theory), a contribution to the law of the
conservation of energy and to musical theory, “new geometry,” sketches of a
telephone (that pre-dated Alexander Graham Bell), etcetera (Benjamin, 2014).
The list is exhaustive. It is mind-boggling when one considers how an
individual could be responsible for such a vast, cross-disciplinary range of
successes.
Intrigued
by the advancements and feats of this one man, we decided to further research
Helmholtz’s contributions to modern psychology and other fields. Dependent of
the discipline, Helmholtz’s research and studies were founded in empiricism
(Williams, 2014). The Britannica Encyclopedia makes an insightful point,
regarding his broad contributions: Helmholtz did not wander from field to field
– from physiology to psychology to physics. On the contrary, he combined the
information and science applied in one field across other disciplines
(Williams, 2014). In all work, Helmholtz practiced “a keen philosophical
insight, molded by exact physiological investigations… mathematical precision,
and sound physical principles” (Williams, 2014). It was with this empirical
mind that Helmholtz proved himself to be one of the most accomplished and
successful scientists.
Helmholtz
started work on his doctoral thesis in 1842, based on the investigation of
animal heat; this exploration led to the discovery of one principle of the
conservation of energy in physics (Williams, 2014). This work with animal heat
inspired his 1850 research on nerve impulse and conductance. In order to
measure nerve transmission, Helmholtz invented the myograph, which he used to
calculate the time it took for a nerve impulse to travel from end to end of a
severed leg of a frog (Williams, 2014). As evident by the twitching of the
severed frog leg, Helmholtz was able to determine that nerve impulses traveled
at the speed of 90 ft/s (Benjamin, 2014). This discovery was important to
psychology in that it proved that the speed of nerve conductance was a
measurable quantity; this discovery helped lay the groundwork for the
measurement of other quantities such as reaction time and other mental
processes (Benjamin, 2014). It is evident from his contributions, in particular
that involving the speed of nerve conductance, that Helmholtz was a scientific
visionary.
(II) Fechner Day remembers the day
that Gustav Fechner discovered the “psychophysical measurement formula” (Meischner-Metge, 2010).
Laying in his bed on October 22, 1850, Fechner writes in his journal and
realizes that individuals can tell the different sensations between their
psychological and their physical senses (Meischner-Metge, 2010). This realization leads to years of research
that were crucial for the discovery of the absolute and difference thresholds (Benjamin,
2014).
(III) On July 3, 2015 we visited
the Dover Castle in Dover, Kent. This is an image from the top of the Great
Tower over looking the water.
(IV) Web link to Dover Castle
Works Cited
Benjamin, L. T. (2014). A brief history of modern psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
Meischner-Metge, A.
(2010). Gustav Theodor Fechner: Life and work in the mirror of his diary. History
Of Psychology, 13(4), 411-423. doi:10.1037/a0021587
Williams, L. (2014, November 5).
Hermann von Helmholtz | German scientist and philosopher. Retrieved July 5,
2015, from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Hermann-von-Helmholtz
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