Binet, bih NAY, Alfred (1857-1911), a French psychologist, did much to arouse interest in the psychological study of children. The French government asked him to devise a method of discovering children with mental retardation, so they could be given special schooling. With Theodore Simon he developed the Binet-Simon intelligence tests. These were the first scales for measuring intelligence, and determining "mental age." They enabled teachers to detect talented and subnormal children. Present-day intelligence tests are refinements of the original Binet-Simon tests.