Kurt Koffka

Kurt Koffka (March 18, 1886 – November 22, 1941) was a German psychologist. He was born and educated in Berlin. Along with Max Wertheimer and his close associates Wolfgang Kohler they established Gestalt psychology. Koffka’s interests were wide-ranging, and they included: Perception, hearing impairments in brain-damaged patients,interpretation, learning, and the extension of Gestalt theory to developmental psychology.

Personal life

Kurt Koffka was born on March 18, 1886 in Berlin. His father, Emil Koffka was a lawyer and royal Councilor of Law. His mother, Luis Levy was of Jewish descent but listed herself as Protestant. Koffka’s younger brother Friedrich later became a Judge. In 1909, Koffka married Mira Klein, who was an experimental subject in his research. They remained married until 1923 when he divorced Klein and married Elisabeth Ahlgrimm who had recently finished her Ph.D at Giessen. However, they were divorced in the same year, and Koffka remarried Klein.

During the First World War, he worked for the Military in a position that later lead him to a Professorship in Experimental psychology. In 1927, he accepted a position at the Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he remained until his death in 1941 from Coronary thrombosis