E. Paul Torrance papers

E. Paul Torrance, B.A. (1940) Mercer University, M.A. (1944) University of Minnesota, Ph.D. (1951) University of Michigan. Professor of educational psychology and director of the Bureau of Educational research at the University of Minnesota. Considered the father of creativity; developed benchmarks for quantifying creativity which proved that IQ is not the only measure of intelligence.

Ellis Paul Torrance was born in Milledgeville, Georgia on October 8, 1915. He earned his bachelor's degree from Mercer University in 1940, M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1944, and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1951. Torrance joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1957 as associate professor and director of educational research of the Bureau of Educational Research and General Education. In 1958, he was promoted to director of the Bureau of Educational Research, and held this post until 1966, when he accepted the position of professor of educational psychology at the University of Georgia. He retired from Georgia in 1984.

Torrance is known as "The Father of Creativity." He developing the benchmark method for quantifying creativity and invented the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, which proved that the IQ test was not the only way to measure intelligence. Torrance completed the only known 40-year longitudinal study on creativity, done on 215 students that attended two Minneapolis elementary schools from 1958-1964. In 1984, the University of Georgia established the Torrance Center for Creative Studies. He authored of over 2,000 books, monographs, articles, reports, tests, manuals and instruction materials. E. Paul Torrance died on July 12, 2003.