Oscar was one of those people blessed (or is it cursed?) to live in interesting times; indeed, times interesting enough for a dozen normal lives. He was the architect of extraordinary – even heroic - deeds, yet they are completely forgotten now. He was to be counted along with people who shaped the history of the 20th Century, but he is barely mentioned. He was a psychologist who worked with giants, someone who made crucial discoveries in psychology, yet came to distrust the discipline and finally disown it. The history of Oscar’s move from brilliant physics graduate to disillusioned professor perfectly illustrates fault lines in our infant discipline of psychology: problems that have remained unsolved for a century. I sense you losing heart already. You think I am about to dredge up the mildly diverting deeds of some long-forgotten fogey. I know what you mean – that would be a dispiriting affair. But you would be wrong. Do not doubt me on the subject of Oscar - he really was extraordinary. Read on.