Sherif, Muzafer
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Sherif (1906-1988) was born in Turkey and gained his MA from the University of Istanbul in1928. He then emigrated to America in order to complete his PhD at Columbia University in 1935.
He is best known for his Robbers cave experiment, a series of experiments at a summer camp conducted in the 1950s. In the experiment Sherif and colleagues (including his wife Carolyn Wood Sherif) were interested in Group Formation, Group Conflict and Conflict Resolution. In many ways the experiment is considered a classic in Social Psychology.
From this research Sherif went on to develop Realistic Conflict Theory arguing that conflict is in some ways inevitable when groups are striving for perceived or actual limited resources. These resources can include, power, money, food knowledge etc.