LORGE, IRVING

LORGE, IRVING (1905–1961), U.S. educator. Born in New York, Lorge joined the Institute of Educational Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, as a research assistant in 1927, working closely with Professor Edward L. Thorndike. In 1946 he became professor of education and executive officer of the Institute of Psychological Research. Lorge pioneered in research in mental measurement and the capacity for human learning. His major work was on the nature of giftedness, the formulation of indexes of readability and of word frequency, the assessment of intellectual functioning of elderly adults, and the measurement of intelligence in young children. Some of the leading American psychologists and educators of the mid-20th century received their research training under him. During World War II, Lorge was special consultant to the secretary of war, the chief of the Corps of Engineers, and the Army Specialized Training Division. From 1944 to 1948 he was expert consultant to the adjutant general's office. His research for the armed forces brought radical changes in the service methods of teaching illiterates. Lorge's many publications include The Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests (1954); A Semantic Count of English Words (1938); and in collaboration with J. Tuckman, Retirement and the Industrial Worker: Prospect and Reality (1953). (Abraham J. Tannenbaum)