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Albert Einstein remarked: His
discovery is so simple that only a genius could have thought of it.
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Jean Piaget was
born in the town of Neuchatel, in the French speaking part of Switzerland on August 9, 1896. He was the oldest child of Arthur
Piaget, a professor of medieval literature and of Rebecca Jackson.(one of his
students) At the age of 10 Jean
published his first papers on subjects like
the sighting of an Albino Sparrow – It was a one page note and his publishers
didn’t know how old he was - and Mollusks. His observations led to questions
that could be answered only by accessing the University library. When he was
a pupil at Neuchâtel Latin high school he was a child prodigy who soon became
interested in studying nature. Which made him recognised by the European
Zoologists of those times.
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During his late adolescence
his interest for mollusks (invertebrates like snails, oysters and other sea
life) was developed. In fact, he became a well-known malacologist by
the time he finished school.
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After leaving school he
studied natural sciences at the University of Neuchâtel where he obtained a
Ph.D. in Zoology in 1918
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Equipped with a Doctorate in
Zoology he trained further as a Biologist, he conducted research in the new
field of Genetic Epistemology – the theory of knowledge on
Genetics.
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He worked for a year at the
University of Zurich where he got interested in psychoanalysis and especially on
the subject of Child Intelligence and its development when he studied
abnormal psychology under Carl Jung.
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He also worked with Bleuler
in Dr. Gottlob Triedrich Lipps Laboratory. Lipps had a Ph.D. from Leipzig and
was the professor and director of the Psychological Laboratory which had been
established in 1911.This changed his life and Piaget moved to France
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In 1919 He was
teaching psychology and philosophy at the Sorbonne. Here he met Simon, of
Simon–Binet fame. De Simon and Alfred Binet had co-founded the “Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles”,
an Institute for boys. Binet was the pioneer of Intelligence Testing and had
developed techniques for testing along with Simon. After Binet’s death in
1911, Simon took over as the faculty in Sorbonne University.
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In 1921 Dr.Clapare’de
the Institute head, appointed Piaget as the director of studies at the J.J.
Rousseau Institute. The same year he was awarded a doctorate degree in
Zoology, Natural Science from the University of Paris. Piaget standardised
Cyril Burt’s test of Intelligence and his first article, his findings were
published in a reputed Parisian Journal, Journal de psychologie. It
was around that period Piaget would administer the Binet reading tests to the
children of Paris. He added to his findings with data obtained from children
confined with mental disorders. This changed Piaget’s life forever and as a
result he took up the study of Child Psychology.
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1923 Married Valentine Chatenay and had 3
children. Piaget and his wife studied their intellectual development from
infancy to language.
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Critics claim that because
his studies were largely of his own children that the research is tainted.
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It was during this period
that he published philosophical essays in 1923 on The language and thought of the Child and in 1924
Judgement and Reasoning in the Child
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In 1925 he became a
professor of philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel. No doubt, it was his
Alma Mater.(nourish, support, foster + Mother)
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