Statistics is a major tool of the social sciences—one of which is certainly information science, dealing as it does with people, the intellectual products of people, and the interactions between people and those intellectual products. In the history of statistics important contributions were made by a Belgian polymath, Lambert-Adolphe-Jacques Quetelet (1796-1874), who is surprisingly under-appreciated in English-speaking countries.
Adolphe Quetelet, as he is generally known, had an impressively wide range of interests as a scientist, teacher, and administrator. He wrote poetry, earned a doctorate in mathematics, helped to found and later directed the Brussels [astronomical] Observatory, tutored Prince Albert (who became the husband of Queen Victoria) in mathematics, and played an important role in establishing a coordinated system of meteorological observations in Europe. But his major interest was the study of human populations using statistics. One of his distinctions in this field was being the first to observe (at least, publicly) that many measurable human characteristics are distributed symmetrically about their mean, in accord with the Gaussian (often called the "normal") distribution; and, though he may not have been the first to use the phrase "the average man [l'homme moyen]," he unquestionably deserves the credit for popularizing the concept of the "average man.". For this contribution and many others, he can justly be called a founding father of sociology, of demography, and of applied statistics.
In admiration, I have set up this Website devoted to Resources on Adolphe Quetelet.
An extended discussion of Quetelet and his work, emphasizing his activities in the field of statistics, is provided by the doctoral dissertation, Adolphe Quetelet as Statistician, of Frank H. Hankins (1877-1970) at Columbia University. Hankins went on to join the faculty of Clark University and, later, that of Smith College. In 1938 he was elected president of the American Sociological Society (now known as the American Sociological Association); in 1945, president of the Population Association of America.. Hankins's dissertation was published in 1908 by Columbia University as Number 4 in Volume XXXI of its Studies in History, Economics and Public Law. The first chapter of this dissertation sketches Quetelet's biography, and Hankins credits the obituary by Mailly (see below) for much of the information in the chapter. To provide a 21st-century level of convenience in accessing Hankins's work on Quetelet, I have posted it to the World-Wide Web in Portable Document Format*, in five sections corresponding to the chapters in this dissertation.
2. Quetelet in the History of Statistics
Note on Copyright
Hankins copyrighted his dissertation in 1908. In posting it to the Web,
I am assuming that his copyright expired in 1936 (or, if renewed, in
1964) and that the dissertation is therefore in the public domain.
Anyone knowing me to be wrong in this assumption should contact me at
the email address given below.
The most detailed source of information about Quetelet is an extensive obituary, Essai sur la vie et les ouvrages de Quetelet, by Édouard Mailly, a pupil and subsequently a colleague of Quetelet. This obituary was published among the "Notices biographiques" of the 1875 Annuaire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (41e année, pp. 108-297). Since not many libraries in the anglophone world contain this volume, I have prepared a copy of Mailly's obituary in Portable Document Format* and, to make it manageable, have posted it to the Web in the 14 sections into which Mailly divided his essay. (An English translation of this obituary is being prepared.)
2. L'arrivée de Quetelet à Bruxelles.— Ses poésies.— Son Essai sur la romance.
6. Quetelet considéré comme physicien.— Ses premières recherches statistiques.
11. Quetelet dans son intérieur.— Ses dernières années .— Sa morte.
12. Les dernières publications de Quetelet.
13. Conclusion.
14. Notes.
Note on Copyright
Mailly's obituary was published in 1875. In posting it to the Web, I am
assuming that any copyright on it expired early in the 20th century and
that it is therefore in the public domain. Anyone knowing me to be
wrong in this assumption should contact me at the email address given
below.
Adolphe Quetelet, Wikipedia
Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874), Engin A. Sungur, Professor of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Morris
Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874), from Statistics for Business and Economics: Excel Enhanced, by Heinz Kohler, South-Western Publishing Company
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
Lambert Adolphe Quetelet, www.famousbelgians.net
Some Adolphe Quetelet Links, a part of the History of Psychology Web Site, University of Dayton
Tales of Statisticians: Adolphe Quetelet, E. Bruce Brooks, Warring States Project, University of Massachusetts
Comments and suggestions for additions will be welcomed with gratitude. Please email me at the following
Email Address:
Go to Guide
to Course Materials for LIS 397.1, Introduction to Research in
Library and Information Science
Go to Wyllys
Webpage
Go to School of Information
Website
*To read documents stored in Portable Document Format (PDF), you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you lack this Reader, it is available for free download from the Adobe Reader Website.
Last revised 2011 Jul 29