In memoriam: Michael M. Sokal (1945-2025)

Memorializes Michael M. Sokal (1945-2025). In 1968, Sokal, an enthusiastic 22-year-old who still looked like a teenager, became the youngest participant in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Summer Institute on the History of Psychology. This institute led to the creation of Cheiron, the International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences. It also inspired Sokal's dedication to advancing research in the history of psychology within the larger framework of the history of science. In 1970, he got a position teaching the history of science and technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI); he also continued his research in the Cattell Papers at the Library of Congress. Sokal later described a 1971 visit to the Cattell family's home, where, while touring an outbuilding, his wife, Charlene, fell through some floorboards-and uncovered another large cache of Cattell Papers. By 1972, he had completed his dissertation on James McKeen Cattell's early life and psychological career through 1904. Although Sokal would teach in Harvard's History of Science program in 1981-1982 and again in 1993-1994, WPI remained his academic home. Although heart-related medical issues would affect him for the rest of his life, Sokal's scholarship in the following decades was prolific, extensive, and diverse, with publications appearing in the most important journals of psychology, science, and history. In 1988, he became the History of Science Society's first "Executive Secretary"-a newly created position. In 1995, Sokal became the coordinator for an NEH-NSF program called "Integrating Science and Humanities in Undergraduate Education." By 1998, he had moved to the Washington, DC area to spend 2 years as director of the NSF's Science and Technology Studies Program. And in 2004, he became the president of the History of Science Society. He also worked closely with the American Psychological Association and in 1997 became the first editor of its new journal, History of Psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).