Wendell Garner

Wendell R. Garner (January 21, 1921 – August 14, 2008) was a Yale University psychology researcher credited with making significant contributions to the cognitive revolution, in which George Miller and others applied emerging research from the fields of artificial intelligence and computer science to test ideas about human mental processes.

Background Garner was born January 21, 1921, in Buffalo, New York. He attended Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After graduating, he went on to Harvard University where he received a master's degree in 1943 and a doctoral degree in 1946. He met his spouse Barbara Ward Garner while working at Harvard's radar laboratory during World War II.

Career In 1946, Garner moved to Baltimore to join the faculty of Johns Hopkins University and from 1954 to 1964 chaired the school's psychology department, also serving as director the Institute for Cooperative Research that existed at the time.

In 1967, Garner joined Yale's faculty as the James Rowland Angell Professor of Psychology, in time becoming chair of the Department of Psychology. He also was the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences between 1978 and 1979.

Later years In retirement, Garner and his spouse Barbara lived in Redding, Connecticut. He died August 14, 2008.

Awards Garner won multiple awards during his career, including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1965; the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award; the American Psychological Foundation's Gold Medal for Science of Psychology; the Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists; Yale's Wilbur Cross Medal; and an honorary degree from Johns Hopkins.