  carl ransom rogers (january 8, 1902 â february 4, 1987) was an influential american psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (or client-centered approach) to psychology. rogers is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his pioneering research with the award for distinguished scientific contributions by the american psychological association (apa) in 1956. the person-centered approach, his own unique approach to understanding personality and human relationships, found wide application in various domains such as psychotherapy and counseling (client-centered therapy), education (student-centered learning), organizations, and other group settings. for his professional work he was bestowed the award for distinguished professional contributions to psychology by the apa in 1972. in a study by haggbloom et al. (2002) using six criteria such as citations and recognition, rogers was found to be the sixth most eminent psychologist of the 20th century and second, among clinicians, only to sigmund freud.haggbloom, s.j. et al. (2002). the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. review of general psychology. vol. 6, no. 2, 139â152. haggbloom et al. combined three quantitative variables: citations in professional journals, citations in textbooks, and nominations in a survey given to members of the association for psychological science, with three qualitative variables (converted to quantitative scores): national academy of science (nas) membership, american psychological association (apa) president and/or recipient of the apa distinguished scientific contributions 
1902_births 1987_deaths American_humanists American_psychologists Educational_psychologists Fellows_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences Humanistic_psychologists People_associated_with_the_Human_Potential_Movement People_from_Oak_Park,_Illinois Presidents_of_the_American_Psychological_Association University_of_Chicago_faculty University_of_WisconsinaMadison_alumni