Two Retired Professors Die

Two retired Harvard professors died this week: Edwin G. Boring, 81, and Phillip Justin Rulon. 68.

Boring

Boring, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology Emeritus, was an internationally known historian of modern experimental psychology. He was the first chairman of the psychology department when it became independent of the philosophy department in 1934.

He was the author of "History of Experimental Psychology" (published 1929, revised 1950); "Sensation and Perception in the History of Experimental Psychology" (1942); "History, Science and Psychology" (1963); and "Source Book in the History of Psychology" (1966).

His research centered on the field of sensation and perception and he performed some of the pioneering experiments on cutaneous sensitivity.

Rulon

Phillip Justin Rulon, professor emeritus of the Graduate School of Education and acting dean of the school from 1943 to 1948, taught at Harvard for 36 years.

He was a psychologist, specializing in educational measurements and statistics. In 1938. Rulon and a group of Boston colleagues founded the Educational Research Corporation which he served as president from 1954 to 1958 and as treasurer until his death.

Rulon was an enthusiastic aviator, who held a commercial pilot's license. He was also interested in boats and motorcycles. A faculty note at the time of his retirement said: "The picture of Rulon astride his crimson motorcycle with a cigarette holder clenched in teeth and a homburg perched on his head is a legend among the inhabitants of Harvard Square."