Thomas O. Burgess

• Psychology Professor 1926-1964

• Psychology & Eduation Department Chair 1926-1964

Biography

Internationally recognized as the Father of Hypnodontia, Thomas Burgess came to Concordia in 1926 to chair the combined Psychology and Education Department. Burgess was born and raised in Illinois. He earned a chemistry degree from Wheaton College in Illinois before teaching at the Shanghai American School in 1919. While in China, Burgess built and operated the first radio in the interior of China.

Burgess returned to the United States and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and education from St. Olaf College in 1922, a master’s degree from the University of Illinois in 1923, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1926. He demonstrated Hypnodontia, the practice of hypnotism in dentistry, to a group of northwestern dentists in 1948 and successfully showed how the technique can act to kill pain, calm the patient, and control the flow of blood or saliva.  President Knutson stated at a 1956 faculty meeting that Burgess “probably more than anyone on the faculty, has brought recognition to Concordia in university circles and in scientific publications.” Outside of his academic commitment to Concordia, Burgess was Concordia’s first track coach and first audio-visual director. After his retirement in 1964, Burgess continued helping others as a clinical psychologist in a private practice that he had established several years prior.