An early observer of child development was Arnold Lucius Gesell, a psychologist and physician, who observed thousands of children at various ages. At one time, his Gesell Development Schedules were used to measure intelligence. Although his studies were later criticized because they were narrowly focused on a group of homogeneous children, his work was considered groundbreaking. Gesell received his medical degree from Yale, where he became a professor of child hygiene. In the 1940s and 50s, he wrote a popular series of books on parenting. Born on this date in 1880, Gesell died in 1961.

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