Samuel Renshaw


Samuel Renshaw was an American psychologist whose work became famous for a short period of time during World War II when he taught sailors to identify enemy aircraft in a split second, using tachistoscopic training. He generally worked with fast-reading and enhancing the latent ability of the mind. He believed that most people used only one-fifth of their available mind-power to process information. By using methods of flashing pages he produced students who could read as fast as 1,200 to 1,400 words per minute.
He was involved in the establishment of the Midwestern Psychological Association and served as the organizations Secretary-Treasurer in 1929. For his contributions to the war effort he was given the Distinguished Public Service Award in 1955 by the United States Navy. He wrote 23 volumes of a journal Visual Psychology.
Robert A. Heinlein depicted the technique in several of his works, including Citizen of the Galaxy and Gulf ; and mentioned Renshaw in the context of the training of Fair Witnesses in Stranger in a Strange Land. He cited a Saturday Evening Post article on Renshaw's studies for responses to fan mail about the subject.
This technique and equipment appeared at the Ravenswood School District for a short time in the 1960s. Several young students were used in the experiment. Film strip readers and page-at-a-glance equipment were used.
The "Renshaw Training System for Aircraft and Ship Recognition" was considered to have "saved untold lives during World War II."