Lucy May Day Boring (27 August 1886 – 26 July 1996) was an American psychologist.

Early life

Lucy May Day was born on 27 August 1886 in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a pop ...

. She attended Mount Holyoke College, obtaining her B.A. in mathematics in 1908. She completed a doctoral degree in experimental psychology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

under Edward Titchener, receiving her Ph.D. in 1912. Her dissertation focused on peripheral color vision. Though Titchener was her advisor, she was unable to join his research and discussion group, the "Titchener Experimentalists," as he adamantly refused to allow women to participate. On one occasion, however, she listened in from a neighboring room with its door ajar. In 1914, she married

Edwin G. Boring Edwin Garrigues (Garry) Boring (23 October 1886 – 1 July 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Clark University and at Harvard University, who later became one of the first historians of psychology. A ''Rev ...

, a fellow Cornell student under Titchener. They became engaged in October 1911, and were married the day after he received his doctorate. She taught briefly at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

and

Wells College Wells College is a private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York. The college has cross-enrollment with Cornell University and Ithaca College. For much of its history it was a women's college. Wells College is located in the Finger Lakes ...

before, in her own words, "giving up a career for family life" when the first of their four children was born in 1916. However, she continued to assist her husband with his work, and "read (and advised) every book and article" he wrote. She held an honorary fellowship at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

from 1919 to 1922, where she and her husband (also a fellow) became friends with Marjory Bates Pratt and Carroll C. Pratt.

Later life

In 1951, the Borings bought a farm in Harborside, Maine; they split their time between there and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. Lucy Boring died on 26 July 1996 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

Works

"A note on learning in paramecium"
(with Madison Bentley) in ''Journal of Animal Behavior'', vol. 1 (1911)
"The effect of illumination on peripheral vision"
in ''American Journal of Psychology'', vol. 23 (October 1912)
"Temporal judgements after sleep"
(with Edwin G. Boring) in ''Studies in Psychology Contributed by Colleagues and Former Students of Edward Bradford Titchener'' (1917)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boring, Lucy May American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists Experimental psychologists American centenarians Cornell University alumni 1886 births 1996 deaths Women centenarians Mount Holyoke College alumni