Raymond Dodge was born on February 20, 1871, in Woburn, Massachusetts to George S. and Anna Pickering Dodge.  Inspired by his father, the pharmacist, preacher, and medical doctor, Dodge developed a thirst for knowledge.  His intellectual ability and quiet demeanor led many to believe he would have a future in preaching or teaching.  In 1893, Williams College awarded Dodge with a Bachelor of Arts degree, where he concentrated on philosophy. 

Dodge aspired to further his education and submitted his thesis “certain differences between psychological and philosophical conceptions of space,” to Harvard and Columbia.  To his surprise and disappointment, he was denied acceptance.  In spite of this disappointment, he continued pursuing his professional degree.  In 1894, he took the $500 savings he had earned working as a Williams' College Assistant Librarian and left for Germany. 

Dodge at the University of Halle in 1896

Without knowledge of the German language, Dodge began classes at the University of Halle in Saale, Germany.  He would learn to speak the German language while continuing his studies in philosophy.  Under the leadership of Professor Erdmann, his work evolved into experimental psychology.  Together, he and Professor Erdmann designed the Erdmann-Dodge tachistoscope and the chronograph.  Dodge designed and contributed to the design of many other instruments and apparatus throughout his career. In 1896, the University of Halle awarded Dodge with his Ph.D. in Philosophy.  

After returning home to Massachusetts in 1897, he married his fiancée Henrietta Cutler.  They spent the rest of their lives together.  During that same year, he began teaching at Ursinus College in Collegeville Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, this position limited his creativity. 

The next year in 1898, he accepted an instructing position at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.  In just four years, he became an associate professor.  Dodge found happiness at Wesleyan where he was able to, not only teach, but had ample opportunities for research under his mentor, Professor A.C. Armstrong.  By 1902, he had become a professor of Psychology and served in that role until 1924.

Dodge in Wesleyan’s first psychology lab.

Wesleyan University Library, Special Collections & Archives

Dodge served as President of the American Psychological Association (Pictured at APA in 1926)

During the World War in 1918, Lieutenant Commander Dodge made significant contributions to the United States Army and Navy in the area of psychological warfare, military psychology, and gunnery services.  Those contributions included the design and development of the gas mask, apparatus to assess, select, and train gun pointers, and the promotion of human engineering. 

Dodge received several appointments over the course of his career.  He was appointed Consultant to the Division of Applied Psychology at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the non-resident Adams Research Fellow and psychology lecturer at Columbia University, the Chairman of the Division of Anthropology and Psychology of the National Research Council in Washington, and the Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Psychology at Yale.  Additionally in 1916, he served as the President of the American Psychological Association.

Many of Dodge's articles, papers, and findings were published throughout his career, but his contribution to the study of eye movement was one of his most notable studies. This research studied eye movement, status and perception, ocular phenomena, and observation.  Dodge's research and experiments covered a wide spectrum, including cancer, the effects of alcohol on the pulse, egoism and altruism, emotions, industrial psychology, pedagogy, politics and economics, psychopathology, sensation, social psychology, and sympathy.

Stricken with Parkinson's disease in 1930, Dodge spent the latter part of his life coping with the illness until his death on April 8, 1942. Medication helped to slow down the effects of the disease during that time.  As shown by his immutable character, Dodge maintained control and continued working for a number of years after his initial diagnosis.  Upon retiring from Yale, he would spend his last days at home in Tryon, North Carolina.  He retained mobility until his final weeks, but remained cheerful, calm, mentally alert, and humorous until the very end. 

Dodge in the Lab