Wayne Allen Wickelgren was a professor of psychology at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Early life

Wickelgren was born on June 4, 1938, to Herman and Alma Larson Wickelgren. He graduated from Hammond High School.

Education

Wickelgren attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, graduating summa cum laude with the Class of 1960. He studied social relations. He received a Ph.D. in psychology from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1962.

Career

In 1962, Wickelgren started as an assistant professor in the Psychology department at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. While there, he rose to full Professor and researched problem-solving, learning, and language. In 1969, he started as a professor of psychology at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

where he worked until 1987. From 1987 until his death in 2005, he was an Adjunct Research Scientist at

. Wicklegren's work was used by James McClelland and

David Rumelhart David Everett Rumelhart (June 12, 1942 – March 13, 2011) was an American psychologist who made many contributions to the formal analysis of human cognition, working primarily within the frameworks of mathematical psychology, symbolic artif ...

to develop the Wickelphone which is a sequence of 3 letters or symbols used together in a word. He was a member of the International Neural Network Society, the Society for Neuroscience, the

Psychonomic Society The Psychonomic Society is an international scientific society of over 4,500 scientists in the field of experimental psychology. The mission of the Psychonomic Society is to foster the science of cognition through the advancement and communicati ...

, the

Cognitive Science Society The Cognitive Science Society is a professional society for the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. It brings together researchers from many fields who hold the common goal of understanding the nature of the human mind. The society prom ...

, and the Society for Mathematical Psychology.

Books

* ''Math Coach: A Parent's Guide to Helping Children Succeed in Math'' (2001) * ''How to Solve Mathematical Problems'' (1995) * ''Cognitive Psychology'' (1979) * ''Learning and Memory'' (1977) * ''How to Solve Problems: Elements of a Theory of Problems and Problem Solving'' (1974)

Personal life

Wickelgren had 5 children including physicist , mathematician Kirsten Wickelgren, and lawyer

Abraham Wickelgren Abraham Lee Wickelgren is an American lawyer who is currently the Fred And Emily Marshall Wulff Centennial Chair In Law at the University of Texas School of Law. He was previously the Bernard J. Ward Centennial Professor of Law. He is currently ...

. Wickelgren was survived by his partner Norma Graham.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickelgren, Wayne Columbia University faculty American psychologists Harvard College alumni 1938 births 2005 deaths People from Hammond, Indiana University of California, Berkeley alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty University of Oregon faculty