Joseph Delboeuf

Joseph Rémi Léopold Delbœuf (September 30, 1831 in Liege, Belgium — August 14, 1896 in Bonn, Germany) was a Belgian philosopher, mathematician, experimental psychologist, hypnotist and psychophysicist. He was a highly respected as a psychologist in his lifetime, the author of an extensive and diverse works, and is known for his work on hypnosis as well as for his important contribution to the debate around the psychophysical. He taught mainly at the University of Liège.

Delboeuf began his psychophysical experimentation on brightness in 1865 with Gustav Fechner. The most important idea that Delboeuf introduced to psychophysics was that of the sense distance (contraste sensible).

Delboeuf is probably best known for his description the Delboeuf illusion in 1893. Many experiments have been performed on this illusion since that time.

Works

Articles in Popular Science Monthly

• "Dwarfs and Giants", in Popular Science Monthly Volume 22, April 1883
• "What May Animals Be Taught?", in Popular Science Monthly Volume 29, June 1886
• "The Psychology of Lizards", in Popular Science Monthly Volume 43, September 1893
• "Affections and Jealousies of Lizards", in Popular Science Monthly Volume 50, January 1897
• "In a World Half as Large", in Popular Science Monthly Volume 52, March 1898

See also

• The Salpêtrière School of Hypnosis

Further reading

• François Duyckaerts, (1992). Joseph Delbœuf philosophe et hypnotiseur,
• LeBlanc, A. (2004). Thirteen Days: Joseph Delboeuf versus Pierre Janet on the Nature of Hypnotic Suggestion, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 40, 123-147.