Alfred Binet
Alfred Binet (1857-1911) was a pioneering French psychologist who developed the first practical intelligence test. Initially trained in law, Binet shifted his focus to psychology and became the director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the Sorbonne. In collaboration with his colleague Théodore Simon, he created the Binet-Simon scale in 1905 at the request of the French government. This scale was designed to identify children who needed special educational assistance, measuring various mental abilities such as memory, attention, and problem-solving skills.The Binet-Simon scale laid the foundation for modern IQ testing and was later revised by Lewis Terman into the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, which remain in use today. Binet believed that intelligence was not a fixed trait and could be influenced by education and environment, contrasting with the hereditary views of some of his contemporaries. His work significantly impacted educational psychology and the study of human intelligence, highlighting the importance of assessing and nurturing cognitive abilities.