Biography
Rushton was born in Bournemouth, England. During his childhood, he emigrated with his family to South Africa, where he lived from age four to eight (1948–1952). His father was a building contractor. His French mother gave him his middle name. The family moved to Canada, where Rushton spent most of his teen years. He returned to England for college, receiving a B.Sc. in psychology from Birkbeck College at the University of London in 1970, and, in 1973, his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics for work on altruism in children. He continued his work at the University of Oxford until 1974.
Rushton taught at York University in Canada from 1974–1976 and the University of Toronto until 1977. He moved to the University of Western Ontario and was made full professor (with tenure) in 1985. He received a D.Sc. from the University of London in 1992. Owing to his controversial research that has sparked political debates, including Ontario's premier David Peterson calling Rushton a racist, in 2005 The Ottawa Citizen described Rushton as the most famous university professor in Canada.
He published more than 250 articles and six books, including two on altruism, and one on scientific excellence, and co-authored an introductory psychology textbook. He was a signatory of the opinion piece "Mainstream Science on Intelligence".
He died aged 68 in 2012.
Read more about this topic: J. Philippe Rushton
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