Pierre Gorman

Pierre Gorman in Cambridge , 1997

Pierre Gorman (born October 1, 1924 in Melbourne , † October 1, 2006 ibid) was a deaf Australian educator and psychologist .

Life

Gorman was a well-known deaf person because he did not campaign for sign language but for spoken language education, supported by medical and technological aids. That hasn't always made him friends in the deaf community. The son of Sir Eugene Gorman (chief judge in Australia and Consul General of Greece ) and Marthe Gorman, who came from Paris, initially obtained an agricultural scientist degree at the wishes of their parents, then an educational scientist. The separation of his parents brought Pierre Gorman to Europe, where he became the first deaf person in the world to obtain a doctorate from Cambridge University in 1960. The title of his dissertation was "Social and Psychological Problems of the Deaf in English Society". He then worked as a librarian for the Royal National Institute of the Deaf (RNID) in London and built the first internationally recognized library with works on hearing impairment.

Then Gorman continued and further developed the Paget-Gorman-Sign System (grammar system) developed by Sir Richard Paget . Gorman was then appointed to the Victorian School for Deaf Children in Melbourne, which was then under the direction of Harry Powell. Shortly afterwards he took up a professorship at Monash University near Melbourne. In 1983 he retired. He continued to be active as a guest lecturer and speaker until 2005. In 1980, his biography was published by Collins Publishing in London.

For Melbourne University, Pierre Gorman archived his book collection and his collection of old pictures related to Cambridge. From the initial 600 titles, more than 3000 titles were counted in the end that are publicly accessible and document Gorman's attachment to Cambridge University and especially to the Corpus Christi College there. On December 2, 2000, Pierre Gorman received an honorary doctorate in law from Melbourne University for this achievement. In addition, Pierre Gorman donated a biennial award to promote the public library of the state of Victoria and in 1990 founded the Gorman Foundation, which promotes young scholars. He was the recipient of various international awards.

literature

• June Epstein: No Music by Request: A Portrait of the Gorman Family . Collins, London, Sydney 1980, ISBN 978-0-00-216438-2 .