Martin, Lillien Jane

Martin, Lillien Jane

(1851–1943) psychologist; born in Olean, N.Y. She studied science at Vassar and taught high school until 1894, when she went to Germany to study experimental psychology at the University of Göttingen. She taught and conducted research at Stanford University for 17 years, published nine books, founded the first mental health clinic for normal children (at Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco, 1920), and became an authority on gerontology. At age 78, she established the world's first old-age counseling center, and in 1937 she opened a farm in Alameda County, Calif., "to give employment and restore self-confidence to a group of elderly men." She was active there until her death at the age of 93.