Sad News: Maurice Hershenson
Dear Colleagues,I write to share the sad news that Maurice Hershenson, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, passed away on Sunday, February 23, 2025, in Newbury, Massachusetts at the age of 91. Professor Hershenson was born in Brooklyn on May 27, 1933. He began his Brandeis career in 1968 as an Assistant Professor, and he retired in 2009.
Professor Hershenson received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and his master’s degree in psychology from Brooklyn College. He then completed his doctorate in Experimental Psychology at Yale University. His education was briefly interrupted in 1955 when he was drafted into the army where he served as a Specialist 3rd Class radar operator for Anti-Aircraft 90MM guns until 1957. After earning his doctorate, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and made significant contributions to the understanding of the development of perception in infants during his time there. For this work he was awarded a Certificate for “outstanding contributions to the Science of Vision” by the College of Optometrists.
In 1968 Professor Hershenson moved from Wisconsin-Madison to Brandeis, where he taught for more than 40 years. He was named the George and Frances Levin Professor of Psychology and promoted to full professor; he served as chair of the Psychology Department and as a member of the Faculty Senate for several years. At Brandeis Professor Hershenson changed his research focus to the study of the kinetic invariance hypothesis and its role in perceiving rigid and nonrigid moving objects. He used the construct to explain how we see objects move in depth and some anomalies such as the moon illusion and spiral aftereffects, and he developed creative experiments to test both his theory and other issues in perceptual processing. He wrote or edited three books and published more than 40 papers on perception. He will be remembered most for his creative solution to the moon illusion problem.
Professor Hershenson was a dedicated teacher who thought deeply about how to engage students. He passionately loved science and psychology and strove to open students’ minds to the wonders that he saw. Two of his books were devoted to teaching perception.
Maurice is survived by his sons and their wives, Gregg and Carrie Hershenson of Newbury, MA, and Eric and Carol Hershenson of London, England, as well as by his treasured grandchildren, Chloe, Lincoln, and Turner.
I am grateful to Angela Gutchess and Raymond Knight of the Department of Psychology for their contributions to this memoriam.
Sincerely,
Carol A. Fierke
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs