Edgar John Rubin (September 6, 1886 – May 3, 1951) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

psychologist/ phenomenologist, remembered for his work on figure-ground perception as seen in such optical illusions like the

Rubin vase Rubin's vase (sometimes known as the Rubin face or the figure–ground vase) is a famous set of ambiguous or bi-stable (i.e., reversing) two-dimensional forms developed around 1915 by the Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin. Another example of a ...

. Born to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents, Rubin was born and raised in

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. Enrolling at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

in 1904, he majored in psychology and finished his

magister artium A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

examination in philosophy in 1910.

Gestalt psychology

Having specialized in figure–ground organization, Rubin spent the following two years as a research associate for

Georg Elias Müller Georg Elias Müller (20 July 185023 December 1934) was a significant early German experimental psychologist who is credited with the theory of retroactive interference. Biography Early life Georg Elias Müller was born in Grimma, Saxony on 20 Ju ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

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, examining the recognition of visual figures at different angles and sizes. His theories became influential within

Gestalt psychology Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward ...

, yet Rubin is typically not included among the early influentials. Nor did he consider himself a Gestalt psychologist, being "sceptical of their attempts to construct wide-ranging theories". Nevertheless, his terminology was retained and featured in Kurt Koffka's ''Principles of Gestalt Psychology''. In 1922, Rubin became Professor of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen, a position he held until his death in 1951.

External links

Edgar Rubin in Litteraturpriser.dk''Figure and ground at 100''.
Jörgen L. Pind
''Principles of Gestalt Psychology (vol.7)''
Koffka, Kurt. p. 183. 1886 births 1951 deaths Danish Jews Danish psychologists 20th-century psychologists {{Psychologist-stub