Focuses on mental tests, test developers, and the social and historical context in which mental tests were developed in the United States and England. Suggests that the tests were produced in an intellectual and social climate heavily influenced by eugenicist theory and that more attention should be paid to research which casts doubts on the…

Early psychological studies of "genius" are examined, and reasons why European studies of eminent people never developed into true academic quality rankings are considered. In Europe, and especially England, France, and Germany, the ecological origins of eminent men and women were assessed: where they grew up, where they attended school,…