William James (1842-1910), brother of the novelist Henry James, was born in New York city. He studied science and medicine first at the Lawrence Scientific School and then at Harvard Medical School. He interrupted his studies to accompany the famous explorer Louis Agassiz on an expedition to unknown parts of the Amazon, then spent a year at a medical school in Germany before returning to Harvard. Early on, James apparently had a mystical-type experience that changed his life....

After receiving his M.D. in 1869 James became an instructor in comparative physiology at Harvard and then taught physiology and psychology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He returned to Harvard in 1880 to join its illustrious philosophy department that at the time included Josiah Royce and graduate student George Santayana. Although James directed Santayana's doctoral thesis the relationship was not a happy one; James called the dissertation "the perfection of rottenness."

In 1890 James published his famous Principles of Psychology, the first textbook on psychology. A huge and instant success, it provided a philosophical foundation for the newly developing science of psychology; subsequently, James helped found the American Psychological Association and served as its first president.

bio by Daniel Kolak in Lovers of Wisdom
(Wadsworth, 1997)