Great Scientists Datebook: May 6

Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist, Sigmund Freud, is remembered on his birth anniversary.

Sigismund Schlomo Freud or Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist, is born this day, May 6, in Freiberg, Moravia. He is considered as the father of psychoanalysis.

Working with Josef Breuer, Freud developed new methods for treating mental disorder, through free association and dream interpretation, summarized in his book The Interpretation of Dreams (1900.)

Later in his work, Freud extended psychoanalysis to a wide range of cultural and social-psychological phenomena. His work has been highly influential popularizing such terms like “defense mechanisms,” “Oedipus complex,” and the notion of being unconscious, among others.

Related article:

Sigmund Freud and His Couch