| Activity | John C. Raven was born in London on 28 June 1902. He took an interest in psychology but initially began a career in teaching, becoming a head teacher in a boarding school for children with physical disabilities. He studied at Kings College, London and was a research psychologist at the Eastern Counties Institution in Colchester with Professor L. S. Penrose. In 1936 he published a paper that was the foundation for his Progressive Matrices which were published in 1938. Raven's Matrices were a set of multiple choice intelligence tests which became widely used throughout the world. Raven returned to London and after the outbreak of the Second World War, his test was used by the Army for recruits and the War Office Selection Boards for officers. He then worked at the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital as a senior psychologist where he developed the Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale. He was appointed the first Director of Psychological Research at Crichton Royal Hospital in June 1944. During his time at Crichton Royal he oversaw the establishment of a Joint Advisory Committee on Psychological Research with Glasgow University in 1948 and the introduction of a postgraduate Diploma course in Clinical Psychology with students spending a year in Glasgow and a year in Dumfries. John C. Raven retired in 1964 and died aged 68 on 10 August 1970 in Dumfries. |