LEWIN, Kurt (1890-1947), German-American psychologist, born in Mogilno, Prussia, and educated at the University of Berlin. Later, as a member of the faculty of that university, Lewin made important
contributions to the school of Gestalt psychology. After he immigrated to the U.S. in 1932, he taught at Stanford, Cornell, and Iowa universities, finally becoming director of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1944. In his work he studied the problems of motivation of individuals and groups; he also did research on child development and personality characteristics. Lewin's work had a
major influence on modern investigations in psychology. Among his books are A Dynamic Theory of Personality(trans. 1935), The Conceptual Representation and Measurement of Psychological Forces (1938), and Resolving
Social Conflicts (1947).