Samuel Renshaw (1892–1981) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

whose work became famous for a short period of time during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when he taught sailors to identify enemy aircraft in a split second, using tachistoscopic training. He generally worked with fast-reading and enhancing the latent ability of the

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

. He believed that most people used only one-fifth of their available mind-power to process information. By using methods of flashing pages he produced students who could read as fast as 1,200 to 1,400 words per minute. Renshaw became involved in the establishment of the Midwestern Psychological Association and served as the organization's Secretary-Treasurer in 1929. For his contributions to the war effort the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

awarded him the

Navy Distinguished Public Service Award The Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, established in 1951, is an award presented by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy to civilians for specific courageous or heroic acts or exceptionally outstanding service of substantial and long-term benef ...

in 1955. He wrote 23 volumes of a journal ''Visual Psychology''.

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

depicted the technique in several of his works, including ''

Citizen of the Galaxy ''Citizen of the Galaxy'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (September, October, November, and December 1957) and published in hardcover in 1957 as one of t ...

'' (1957) and ''

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

'' (1949); and mentioned Renshaw in the context of the training of Fair Witnesses in ''

Stranger in a Strange Land ''Stranger in a Strange Land'' is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by ...

'' (1961). He cited a ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' article on Renshaw's studies for responses to fan mail about the subject. This technique and equipment appeared at the Ravenswood School District (near

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

) for a short time in the 1960s. Several young students took part in the experiment, which involved film-strip readers and page-at-a-glance equipment. The "Renshaw Training System for Aircraft and Ship Recognition" was considered to have "saved untold lives during World War II".

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External links

Renshaw and the Tachistoscope
by

Alexei Panshin Alexei Panshin (August 14, 1940 – August 21, 2022) was an American writer and science fiction critic. He wrote several critical works and several novels, including the 1968 Nebula Award–winning novel ''Rite of Passage''Nicholls 1979, p. 447 ...

, written in 1958 and revised in 1966 20th-century American psychologists 1892 births 1981 deaths {{US-psychologist-stub