Awards

National Academies - 1993

American Association for the Advancement of Science

About Esther Thelen

Esther Stillman Thelen was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 20, 1941 to Alden and Sarah Stillman. She attended Antioch College in Ohio, and was a 1964 graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a degree in zoology. She then received a master’s degree in zoology and a doctorate in biology, both from the University of Missouri. She began her career as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Missouri in 1977 before moving to Indiana University in 1985.

During her time at Indiana University, Thelen was a professor of psychology and the founder/director of the Infant Motor Development Laboratory. She and her colleagues studied infant movement, perception, and cognition, and how perceptual motor skills in infancy can predict development and adaption later in life. Thelen is well-known for applying the dynamic systems theory – popularized under the name “chaos theory” – to the study of child development. Through watching and recording babies’ behavior, Thelen’s 19 years of research demonstrated that infant movement develops through a complex interplay of factors, including changing bodies, growing brains and nervous systems, and interactions with the external environment during a dynamic period of brain development. She disproved the original theory that the stepping reflex in babies appeared only at birth and then disappeared; her research proved that the reflex was still present after birth. Her work also had a major impact on the field of pediatric physical therapy, prompting therapists to design individual exercises tailored to a child’s body, rather than using standard exercises for all children within a certain age bracket.

Thelen was president of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) from 2003 to 2004 and served as president of the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS) from 1996 to 1998. She was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Psychological Association. She received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, as well as continuous funding from the National Institute of Mental Health. Her publications included three books and over 120 scientific articles and chapters.

In 1962, Esther married David Thelen, a historian who also worked at Indiana University as a professor of American history. They had two children together. Esther Thelen passed away on December 29, 2004.