| Karl Robert Sommer | |
| Birth Date: | 19 December 1864 |
| Birth Place: | Grottkau, Kingdom of Prussia |
| Death Date: | 2 February 1937 (aged 72) |
| Death Place: | Giessen, Hesse, Germany |
| Fields: | Psychiatry |
| Workplaces: | Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Würzburg, Psychiatric hospital in Rybnik, University of Giessen |
| Known For: | Research on experimental psychology. Co-founder of the „Gesellschaft für experimentelle Psychologie“. Founder of „Deutscher Ausschuss für psychische Hygiene“ in 1923 and „Deutscher Verband für psychische Hygiene“ in 1925 which he also directed until 1933. |
| Awards: | Second prize by the Berlin Academy of Sciences, 1886Elected a member of the Leopoldina, 1936 |
| Spouse: | Emmy Schaefer (1867–1935) |
Karl Robert Sommer[1] (19 December 1864, in Grottkau - 2 February 1937, in Giessen) was a german psychiatrist and genealogist born in Grottkau. He is remembered for his work in experimental psychology.[2] He coined the term „Psychohygiene“ in 1901 and founded the „German Association for Psychohygiene“ and the „Society for Experimental Psychology“ (since 1929 „German Society for Psychology“). He is remembered for his work in experimental psychology. He also published on genealogy, philosophy, and forensics. He was also an active inventor and involved in local politics.
Sommer was the youngest of six children of the lawyer Karl Friedrich Adolf Sommer (1824-1903) and his wife Anna, née Lange (1831-1872). Actually, Robert Sommer wanted to become a naval officer, but his nearsightedness did not allow it.
He studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg im Breisgau and Leipzig, relocating in 1885 to Berlin, where he composed a work on the philosophy of John Locke in relation to René Descartes. In 1887, he received his doctorate of philosophy, afterwards working as an assistant in the laboratory of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) at Leipzig. From 1889, he was an assistant at a psychiatric hospital in Rybnik, earning his habilitation at Würzburg in 1892.
In 1895, he became an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Giessen, where, during the following year, he established a "centre for psychiatry". In 1904, he was a co-founder of the Gesellschaft für experimentelle Psychologie (Society for experimental Psychology).[3]
In 1904, Sommer, together with his colleagues Georg Elias Müller, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Oswald Külpe, Ernst Meumann and Friedrich Schumann, convened the first "Congress for Experimental Psychology" in Giessen, at which the Society for Experimental Psychology was founded.
Sommer died in 1937 of pneumonia contracted during a six-hour winter hike.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Giessen Psychiatric Clinic, the Robert Sommer Award Symposium was established, at which international scientists have since presented and discussed research results on schizophrenia, and the Robert Sommer Medal has also been awarded for special services in schizophrenia research.
In addition, a street in Giessen is named after Robert Sommer.