Final answer:
Phrenology was developed by Franz Joseph Gall and proposed that the distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person's personality traits and abilities. It gained popularity in the 19th century but is now considered pseudoscience. Gall's assertion about different brain functions is still regarded as an important scientific advance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Phrenology was initially developed in Europe by a German doctor named Franz Joseph Gall. He proposed that the distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person's personality traits, character, and mental abilities. According to Gall, measuring these distances revealed the sizes of the brain areas underneath, providing information about different aspects of a person's behavior.
Phrenology gained popularity in the 19th century as a way to understand the workings of the mind and was even used as an educational test and form of popular entertainment. However, it is now considered pseudoscience and lacks empirical support.
Gall's assertion that different parts of the brain were responsible for different functions is still regarded as an important scientific advance and is related to what would later become psychology.