| Code | BPS/GB/64 |
| Thumbnail | 
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| Name | Zangwill; Oliver Louis (1913-1987); Professor; FRS |
| Title | Professor |
| Forenames | Oliver Louis |
| Surname | Zangwill |
| Dates | 1913-1987 |
| Epithet | FRS |
| Other Names | O.L.Zangwill |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | British |
| DatesAndPlaces | Born East Preston, Sussex 29 October 1913 Died Cambridge 12 October 1987
London 1913-1931
Cambridge 1931-1940
Edinburgh 1940-1945
Oxford 1945-1952
Cambridge 1952-1987 |
| Address | Cambridge |
| Relationships | Zangwill was the second son and youngest of three children in the family of Israel Zangwill (1864-1926) the literary and political figure, and his wife, Edith Ayrton (1875-1945) who was active in the establishment of the League of Nations. A cousin was the painter and writer Michael Ayrton (nd), the common grandfather being the physicist William Ayrton (nd) FRS
His students at the National Institute of Neurology and the Radcliffe Infirmary included:
George Ettlinger 1927-1994
John McFie (nd) 1922-1980
Malcolm Piercy 1924-2012
Maria Wyke (nd) d. c.2017
Elizabeth Warrington 1931-
Brenda Milner (nd) 1918-
all of whom became distinguished neuropsychologists. |
| Activity | Zangwill was the second son and youngest of three children in the family of Israel Zangwill (1864-1926) the literary and political figure, and his wife, Edith Ayrton (1875-1945) who was active in the establishment of the League of Nations.
Zangwill was educated at University College School, London (1928-1931) and at King's College Cambridge.
At Cambridge, Zangwill with his lifelong friend R.C.Oldfield (nd) wrote a critique of the celebrated concept of mental schema put forward by Sir Henry Head (1861-1940) and F C Bartlett.
Zangwill became a research psychologist at the brain injuries unit in Edinburgh (1940-1945)., which was directed by Norman Dott (nd).
While assistant director of the Institute of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford (1945-1952) Zangwill promoted the teaching of Psychology.
Appointed to the Cambridge chair of Experimental Psychology, which he held from 1 October 1952 to 1981, with a fellowship of King's College. Zangwill brought Lawrence Weiskrantz (nd) from America to set up a primate laboratory,. Cambridge University Psychology Department have a lecture society The Zangwill club named after Zangwill. https://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/6342
Zangwill took a major part in setting up the Experimental Psychology Group.. It became the larger Experimental Psychology Society, with its quarterly journal, which Zangwill edited from 1958 to 1966, serving also on the editorial board of Neuropsychologia (1963-1981).
Zangwill was President of the British Psychological Society in 1974 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977.
He had honorary degrees from Stirling (1979) and St Andrews (1980) and held the honorary post of visiting psychologist at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases (1947-1979); he also had close connections with European clinical neurology and, in the United States, with Hans-Lukas Teuber (nd) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sources: Richard L. Gregory, Zangwill, Oliver Louis (1913-1987), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004[accessed 11 Jan 2005: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39981
Compiled by Mike Maskill, BPS Archivist for the History of Psychology Centre. |
| OtherInfo | Zangwill's paper "Amnesia and the generic image" remains significant for the subject of whether semantic memory remains intact in amnesia. |
| PublishedWorks | Selected publications:
R.L. Gregory and O. Zangwill (eds) The Oxford Companion to the Mind, OUP.
Amnesia and the generic image, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2, 1950
An Introduction to Modern Psychology Methuen & Co London 1950
Current Problems in Animal Behaviour (Cambridge) CUP, 1961
Amnesia (London) Butterworths, 1966 |
| Source | Sources: Richard L. Gregory, Zangwill, Oliver Louis (1913-1987), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004[accessed 11 Jan 2005: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39981 |
| Conventions | International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN ISBN 0-9696035-3-3
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 |
| RefNo | Title | Dates |
| PHO/001/02/400 | Oldfield, Richard Charles 'Carolus' - Photograph | Mid 20th Century |
| HEARN/1/5/2 | Miscellaneous | 1933-1974 |
| AUD/002/OHP 37 | Holdsworth, Roger - Recording | 15 April 2008 |
| KENNA/2/4/4 | Notes, Drafts and Research Material (Individuals and Societies) | 1960s-1970s |
| HEARN/1/4/3 | Lecture Notes Physiological Psychology | 1958-1959 |
| PHO/001/02/586 | Zangwill, Oliver Louis - Photograph | 20th century |
| APU/001 | MRC Applied Psychology Unit APU Pamphlets, Reprints & Projects | 1921-1998 |
| APU/003 | MRC APU Bartlett-Zangwill Correspondence | 20th century |
| BPS/001/11/04/03/03/18 | Interdisciplinary Working Party on Ethical Guidelines for Behaviour Modification (Zangwill) 1977-1981 | 1977-1981 |
| PHO/001/04/03/06/13 | Wilson, Barbara - Photograph | April 2009 |
| BPS/004/1/07 | Zangwill Oliver Louis (1913-1987) papers 1941-1945 | 1941-1945 |
| HEARN/1/5/1 | Cambridge Conference on Psychology of Thinking, 1955 | 1955 |
| AUD/002/OHP 12 | Conrad , R - Recording | 20 October 2005 |
| AUD/002/OHP 39 | Warr, Peter - Recording | 16 September 2008 |
| PHO/001/04/08/26 | MRC APU [Applied Psychology Research Unit] Photograph | mid 20th century |
| AUD/002/OHP 40 | Gregory, Richard - Recording | 13 November 2008 |
| PHO/001/04/08/10 | Symposium on Thinking 1955, Cambridge - Photograph | 1955 |
| BPS/004/1 | Individuals 1910-1994 | 1910-1994 |
| BPS/001/6/01/04/01/01 | XIX International Congress of Psychology, London, 27 July - 2 August 1969 | 1969-1972 |
| BPS/001/3/05/02/05 | BPS F&GPC Papers 1982-1983 | 1982-1983 |
| BPS/001/11/04/03/03 | BPS Consultations 1972-1979 | 1972-1979 |
| AUD/002/OHP 49 | Black, Tony - Recording | 5 August 2009 |
| AUD/002/OHP 33 | Conochie, Douglas - Recording | 2 July 2008 |
| KENNA/2/4/1 | Joseph Jacobs & the Digit Span Test | 1967-1987 |
| HEARN/1/1/2 | Reprints and Text (2) | 1941-1984 |
| AUD/002/OHP 24 | Oswald, Ian - Recording | 16 October 2007 |
| AUD/002/OHP 44 | Newman, Colin V. - Recording | 13 November 2008 |
| AUD/002/OHP 90 | Wilson, Barbara A. - Recording | 25 October 2012 |
| HEARN/1/4/2 | Inaugural and other Formal Lectures | 1947-1979 |