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Britannica Hong Kong > Encyclopedia Categories > Anthropology > Quetelet, (Lambert) Adolphe (Jacques)

Quetelet, (Lambert) Adolphe (Jacques)

(born Feb. 22, 1796, Ghent, Belg.—died Feb. 17, 1874, Brussels) Belgian statistician, sociologist, and astronomer. He is known for his application of statistics and the theory of probability to social phenomena. He collected and analyzed government statistics on crime, mortality, and other subjects and devised improvements in census taking. In Sur l'homme (1835) and L'Anthropométrie (1871) he developed the notion of the homme moyen, the statistically “average man.” A founder of quantitative social science, he was nonetheless widely criticized for the crudeness of his methodology.

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