| Adolphe Quetelet, Social Physics and the Average Men of Science, 1796-1874 Contributor(s): Donnelly, Kevin Padraic (Author) |
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ISBN: 0822966085 ISBN-13: 9780822966081 Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press OUR PRICE: $36.10 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2019 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Science & Technology - Science | History |
| Dewey: 509.2 |
| Series: Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6" W x 8.9" (0.75 lbs) 232 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Adolphe Quetelet was an influential astronomer and statistician whose controversial work inspired heated debate in European and American intellectual circles. In creating a science designed to explain the "average man," he helped contribute to the idea of normal, most enduringly in his creation of the Quetelet Index, which came to be known as the Body Mass Index. Kevin Donnelly presents the first scholarly biography of Quetelet, exploring his contribution to quantitative reasoning, his place in nineteenth-century intellectual history, and his profound influence on the modern idea of average. |