- Born in Chicago in 1929.
- Earned his B.S. from Northwestern University (1950), a masters from University of Wisconsin (1952), and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University in 1955.
- Pioneer in the application of quantitative statistical methods in the social sciences.
- At Dartmouth, taught courses in quantitative social analysis, social psychology and the structure of small groups.
He was pivotal to a lot of people… He was an extraordinary college teacher. Just really over-the-top and taught in ways that were really really unconventional at the time. [He] believed that really effective college teaching […] enabled students to become researchers almost immediately, rather than preparing for five years and then doing it. The courses didn’t have any exams. They were all about doing and much more interactive than the typical course at the time. It really anticipates what has come to be called “active learning”, but it was something that he was really visionary in. –Peter Marsden, D’73 (Former Student)
- Most enduring impact on the discipline was the development of the General Social Survey (GSS), which has tracked trends in social and political views since 1972.
- Taught at Yale University from 1956-1957; Dartmouth from 1967-1972 and again from 1976-1977; and Harvard University from 1977 until when he retired in 1994.¹
¹All information from this bio. can be found on the Harvard University Sociology Department website.