Editing Edward Thorndike (section)

==Early life and education==
Thorndike, born in [[Williamsburg, Massachusetts]] was the son of Edward R and Abbie B Thorndike, a Methodist minister in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Reinemeyer|1999}} Thorndike graduated from [[The Roxbury Latin School]] (1891), in West Roxbury, Massachusetts and from [[Wesleyan University]] (B.S. 1895). He earned an M.A. at [[Harvard University]] in 1897. His two brothers (Lynn and Ashley) also became important scholars. The younger, [[Lynn Thorndike|Lynn]], was a [[Medieval Studies|medievalist]] specializing in the history of science and magic, while the older, [[Ashley Horace Thorndike|Ashley]], was an English professor and noted authority on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]].

While at Harvard, he was interested in how animals learn ([[ethology]]), and worked with [[William James]]. Afterwards, he became interested in the animal 'man', to the study of which he then devoted his life.{{sfn|Thomson|1949}} Edward's thesis is sometimes thought of as the essential document of modern comparative psychology. Upon graduation, Thorndike returned to his initial interest, educational psychology. In 1898 he completed his PhD at Columbia University under the supervision of [[James McKeen Cattell]], one of the founding fathers of [[psychometrics]].

In 1899, after a year of unhappy initial employment at the College for Women of Case Western Reserve in [[Cleveland]], Ohio, he became an instructor in psychology at Teachers College at Columbia University, where he remained for the rest of his career, studying human learning, education, and mental testing. In 1937 Thorndike became the second President of the [[Psychometric Society]], following in the footsteps of [[Louis Leon Thurstone]] who had established the society and its journal [[Psychometrika]] the previous year.

On August 29, 1900, he wed Elizabeth Moulton. They had four children, among them [[Frances Cope|Frances]], who became a mathematician.{{sfn|Hiemstra|1998}}

During the early stages of his career, he purchased a wide tract of land on the Hudson and encouraged other researchers to settle around him. Soon a colony had formed there with him as its 'tribal' chief.{{sfn|Thomson|1949}}