Magdalen Dorothea Vernon

Magdalen Dorothea Vernon (25 June 1901 – 1 December 1991) was a British experimental psychologist who published her research widely and trained many PhD students. She was the first woman to head the then Department of Psychology at the University of Reading, England.

Life and work Maggie (as she was known) and her brother Philip, were born in Oxford to Katharine Dorothea Ewart and Horace Middleton Vernon. She was named after Magdalen College, the Oxford college where her father was a Fellow. She and her brother both pursued studies in psychology following in the footsteps of their father, an industrial psychologist. She attended Oxford High School and then enrolled in Newnham College, Cambridge on a scholarship, earning her MA in 1926 and Sc.D in 1953.

With her published findings in 1931, Vernon became known as an international expert on reading. Her following book on the subject was widely read and she worked with Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craik as well, which resulted in joint papers on dark adaptation. When she was 70, she published her last book, which examined reading difficulties.

Personal life Magdalen Vernon, died at the age of 90 in Beckenham, England on 1 December 1991.

Distinctions 1952-1954 – President, Experimental Psychology Society 1958-59 – President, British Psychological Society 1970 – Honorary Fellowship, British Psychological Society Vernon, M.D. (1937). Visual Perception. Vernon, M.D. (1958). Backwardness in Reading. Vernon, M.D. (1965). Psychology of Perception. Vernon, M.D. (1969). Human Motivation. Vernon, M.D. (1971). Readings and its Difficulties.