Adolphe Quetelet

Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist, best known for developing the Body Mass Index (BMI), a simple numerical computation regarding weight and height that is commonly used to quantify whether a person has a healthy body weight for a given height.

Early Life and Education

Adolphe Quetelet was born on 22 February 1796 in Ghent, Belgium. He received his early education in Ghent and later attended the Ghent University, where he studied mathematics. After completing his studies, he worked as a mathematics teacher at the Atheneum in Brussels.

Career

In 1823, Quetelet founded the Brussels Observatory and served as its director for the rest of his life. He also founded the Belgian Academy of Sciences and served as its first president. Quetelet's work in the field of statistics led him to develop the concept of the "Average Man," which he described as a statistical mean of human physical and social traits.

Body Mass Index

Quetelet is perhaps best known for developing the Body Mass Index (BMI), a statistical measure that compares a person's weight and height. Despite its widespread use today, the BMI was not without its critics, who argued that it was a flawed measure because it did not take into account muscle mass.

Legacy

Quetelet's work has had a profound impact on a variety of fields, including statistics, sociology, and public health. His concept of the "Average Man" has been influential in the development of the field of social physics, which uses statistical methods to understand social phenomena.

See Also

• Body Mass Index
• Social Physics
• Belgian Academy of Sciences
• Brussels Observatory