James Jerome Gibson was born. One of the most eminent figures in the history of perceptual psychology, Gibson is renowned for his ecologically driven metatheory which contends that information informing our perceptual understanding of the world is sensed directly through our interaction with the environment.

In a career spanning six decades, 'The Perception of the Visual World' (1950), 'The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems' (1966) and 'The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception' (1979), rank among Gibson's most important publications.

Professionally recognized throughout his working life, Gibson was awarded the Howard Crosby Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 1952, received the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions in 1961, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1967.