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February 4, 1885

Dr. Stepan Balei, a leading psychologist and pedagogue, was born on February 4, 1885, in Velyki Borky of Ternopil county in Galicia. He studied at the universities of Lviv, Berlin, Vienna and Paris, obtaining a Ph.D. in psychology in 1913. In 1922-1925, he was a professor of philosophy and psychology at the Lviv Underground Ukrainian University. He contributed to Ukrainian scholarly journals, and his "Narys Psykholohiyi" (An Outline of Psychology, 1922) was the first Ukrainian textbook in the field published in western Ukraine.

Dr. Balei earned his medical degree in 1926 and became a professor of educational psychology at Warsaw University in 1927. He then devoted himself to strictly scientific subjects (one of his earlier articles was titled, "On the Psychology of Shevchenko's Creativity," 1916). He was a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He died in Warsaw on September 13, 1952.

Source: "Balei Stepan," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 1 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 31, 1993, No. 5, Vol. LXI

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