Short answers, pulled from the story.
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor and psychotherapist who founded Individual Psychology. He is best known for coining the term "inferiority complex" and for his theory that feelings of inferiority drive personality development. He also introduced the concept of Gemeinschaftsgefuhl, or social interest, arguing that a sense of belonging and contribution to others is central to mental health.
Adler and Freud were colleagues, not teacher and student. Freud referred to Adler in print in 1909 as "My colleague Dr Alfred Adler." Adler joined Freud's Wednesday Society discussion group in 1902 and became president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1910, before leaving the group in 1911 - the first major figure to break from orthodox psychoanalysis. The two men grew to dislike each other, and Freud's distaste for Adler persisted even after Adler's death.
Alfred Adler coined the term "inferiority complex" to describe what occurs when a person's drive to compensate for feelings of inadequacy becomes overextended. His early work on organ inferiority proposed that a weaker organ prompts the rest of the body to compensate; he later applied the same logic to psychological feelings of inadequacy. When compensation fails or overshoots, the result is an inferiority complex, which he argued could lead to egocentric, power-hungry, or aggressive behavior.
In writings from 1908, Adler argued that a child's position among siblings shapes personality by placing each child in a distinct psychological environment. The firstborn risks neuroticism after losing the center of parental attention; the youngest tends toward poor social empathy due to overindulgence; and the middle child is most likely to succeed but also most likely to rebel. Adler acknowledged he lacked scientific proof for these patterns and offered them as heuristic guides rather than fixed predictions.
Alfred Adler died on the 28th of May 1937 in Aberdeen, Scotland, from degeneration of the heart muscle. He collapsed while walking down a street during a lecture tour and died shortly after. His remains were cremated at Warriston Crematorium in Edinburgh, but the ashes went unclaimed for 70 years. They were rediscovered in 2007 and returned to Vienna for burial in 2011.
Adler used the German word Gemeinschaftsgefuhl to describe a community feeling whereby a person feels genuine belonging with others and develops a connection to nature and the wider world. He argued that contributing to others is how an individual achieves a sense of worth within the family and society. This concept was central to his therapy, which aimed to strengthen social interest as both a treatment and a preventive measure against psychological disorders.