E. Paul Torrance, 87; Developed Series of Creativity Tests

E. Paul Torrance, 87, a retired University of Georgia professor who developed a widely used series of creativity tests, died Saturday from complications of pneumonia at his home in Athens, Ga.

He was best known as the developer of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, which are used in the business world and in education to assess individuals’ capacity for creativity. Originally published in 1966, the tests have been translated into more than 40 languages and can be given to children as young as 5 and adults of any age.

Torrance also created the Future Problem Solving program, which began in 1974 as an academic activity for gifted students and evolved into a yearlong program with interscholastic competitions involving 300,000 students in 41 states and several foreign countries.

A native of Milledgeville, Ga., Torrance became interested in creativity in the 1940s as a teacher at Georgia Military College, where many of his students were “so creative that their hometown high schools could not tolerate them.”

His desire to find constructive outlets for their imagination and energy led him to develop his first creativity test in 1943. His work in the early 1950s as a researcher studying ace pilots at the U.S. Air Force Survival School in Nevada led to further refinements in the test.

Torrance wrote dozens of books, including “Guiding Creative Talent” (1962) and “The Search for Satori and Creativity” (1979).