Hermann Rorschach

About Hermann Rorschach

Who is it?: Swiss psychiatrist
Birth Day: November 08, 1884
Birth Place: Zurich, Switzerland, Swiss
Died On: 1 April 1922(1922-04-01) (aged 37)\nHerisau, Switzerland
Birth Sign: Sagittarius
Known for: Rorschach test
Fields: Psychiatry, psychometrics
Influences: Eugen Bleuler

Hermann Rorschach Net Worth

Hermann Rorschach was born on November 08, 1884 in Zurich, Switzerland, Swiss, is Swiss psychiatrist. The Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach is well-known for developing the projective test, called the Rorschach Inkblot test. He designed a set of ten inkblot cards that were supposed to reveal a subject’s subconscious personality traits. In fact the inkblot tests were the only contribution he made to the field of psychiatry but the popularity of this personality assessment tool was enough to earn him much widespread recognition all over the world. The son of an art teacher, Rorschach had always been interested in drawing and painting from childhood. He was deeply fascinated by klecksography, the art of making fanciful inkblot images. He enjoyed making inkblots so much that he earned the nickname ‘Klecks’ and proceeded to make inkblots his life’s work. He was profoundly interested in both art and science and wanted to make a career in either of the fields. He studied medicine and became a brilliant psychiatrist. Yet his fascination with art and inkblots never went away and he began working on a series of inkblot tests that would enable psychiatrists in understanding the subconscious elements of the patients’ personalities. Today these tests are used not just in the field of psychiatry, but in various other areas like military training, career counseling, etc.
Hermann Rorschach is a member of Psychiatrists

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Hermann Rorschach images

Biography/Timeline

1857

In 1857 German Doctor Justinus Kerner had published a popular book of poems, each of which was inspired by an accidental inkblot, and it has been speculated that the book was known to Rorschach. French Psychologist Alfred Binet had also experimented with inkblots as a creativity test.

1906

Rorschach's father, an art Teacher, encouraged him to express himself creatively through painting and drawing conventional pictures. As the time of his high school graduation approached, he could not decide between a career in art and one in science. He wrote a letter to the famous German Biologist Ernst Haeckel asking his advice. The scientist suggested science, and Rorschach enrolled in medical school at the University of Zurich. Rorschach began learning Russian, and in 1906, while studying in Berlin, he traveled to Russia for a holiday.

1909

Rorschach graduated in Medicine at Zurich in 1909 and at the same time became engaged to Olga Stempelin, a girl from Kazan (in the present-day Republic of Tatarstan, Russia). At the end of 1913, after graduation, he married Stempelin, and the couple moved to live in Russia. They had two children, a daughter Elizabeth (called "Lisa", 1917–2006) and a son, Ulrich Wadin (called "Wadim", 1919–2010). Neither Lisa nor Wadim had children, and thus Rorschach had no grandchildren and has no living descendants.

1914

By July 1914 Rorschach had returned to Switzerland, where he served as an assistant Director at the regional psychiatric hospital at Herisau, and in 1921 he wrote his book Psychodiagnostik, which was to form the basis of the inkblot test. In 2001, the inkblot test was criticised as pseudoscience and its use was declared controversial. In 2013 and 2015 two systemic reviews and meta-analyses were published that resulted in the criticism as pseudoscience to be lifted.

1922

One year after writing his book, Rorschach died of peritonitis, probably resulting from a ruptured appendix. He was still associate Director of the Herisau Hospital when he died at the age of 37, on 1 April 1922.

2013

In November 2013, Google celebrated the 129th anniversary of Rorschach's birth with a Google Doodle showing an interpretation of his inkblot test.

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