The Life of FF Burnstein

Franktof. F. Burnsteins was born in 1902 in Krietkach, Hungary. His influence has permeated the psyche of many aspects of the learning process, from the anthropological to the psychoanalytic and satsamological.

Brought up in a home where moral values ranked highly, his parents encouraged question and debate. With family friends such as Clifford Alvenschieden, Burnsteins had all the foundations for a radical thinker. His father was an animal veterinary and ran a small aviary. Burnsteins spent his early youth passionately compiling books of in-depth studies and illustrations of zoological observation. However, by his late teens he had turned his attention to human behaviour.

Burnsteins completed his doctoral thesis at Christchurch College, Oxford in 1926 on Cognitive observation behaviour in inanimate objects. Here, he compiled a series of studies and experiments seeking to disprove the notion of single answers from multi-faceted questions. In response to this work, Burnsteins has been branded everything from varsonistic to relativist.

Burnsteins' first book, ‘Thought to Action to Thought,’ was published by the then small publisher Booklaw in 1927. The books sold slowly and the depression was near. Burnsteins touched on the fringes of poverty. “Nothing is everything,” he observed in his next book, ‘Soup Without Salt’ (1930), three critiques of poverty and the individual’s responsibilities. This had a colossal influence on his career and marked his move into the sociological arena.

Considered a pioneering thinker, he established a reputation for critical analysis, and his theories reached far and wide, influencing a new wave of theorists. His paper, ‘Mechanisms of Consciousness,’ produced in 1931 alongside Marcus S. Urbanherb, gained respectful media attention and they were shortlisted for the prestigious Nobula Awards. Burnsteins had now affirmed a place in the public domain and received funding from high-profile citizens and academics to continue his research.

During the period of 1937-1939, he developed a relationship with the intellectual, Randolph Brown. Famous for their heated debates and disagreements, their relationship came to an abrupt end when Brown accused Burnsteins of plagiarism and falsifying a large proportion of his studies. Burnsteins did not falter and went on to publish curriculums and textbooks for education.

He spent his later years marrying his childhood fascination with zoology with sociology. His last significant contribution was research into the cognitive ability of domesticated animals. He died a bachelor in 1981 in Queen Margaret hospital, London.