Sigmund Freud was one of the most prominent scientists and thinkers of the 20th century. He developed a new theory of the mind that became known as psychoanalysis, which is still influential today.
Scientist was born in 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia (now Pribor, Czech Republic). His father was an observant Jew and his mother came from a family of assimilated Jews. As a boy he enjoyed reading literature and poetry as well as science. In 1873 he began studying medicine in Vienna and continued his education at the University of Paris while working under Jean-Martin Charcot, who introduced him to hypnosis and neurology. In 1885 Freud returned to Vienna where he began working with Josef Breuer on studies into hysteria (a mental disorder characterized by psychosomatic symptoms). Breuer wrote up their findings in 1895 but did not publish them until 1936, after Freud had already published his own theories independently.
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory posits that unconscious forces are at work in our daily lives, influencing our behavior without our knowledge or consent. He proposed that human beings are driven by a need for pleasure (libido) and a fear of pain (thanatos). The way we deal with these drives determines our personality development.
In 1899 Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams which showed how dreams were related to unconscious wishes and desires. In 1900 he also published The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, which examined everyday slips and mistakes such as misreading words or losing things on purpose as reflecting underlying unconscious drives or motives.
