Binet << bih NAY >> Alfred (1857-1911), a French psychologist, did much to arouse interest in the psychological study of children. The French government asked him to devise a method of discovering children with intellectual disabilities, so they could be given special schooling. With Theodore Simon he developed the Binet-Simon intelligence tests. These were the first scales for measuring intelligence and determining “mental age.” They enabled teachers to detect talented and intellectually disabled children. Present-day intelligence tests are refinements of the original Binet-Simon tests.
Binet was born on July 8, 1857, in Nice, France. As a young man he studied law, but a strong interest in biology soon led him to give up his law career. From biology he turned to psychology, particularly the study of abnormal and defective persons. Binet served as director of a clinic for experimental psychology at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He also promoted a society for experimentation in education and a journal devoted to psychology. He died on Oct. 18, 1911.
