Adolphe Quetelet, Social Physics and the Average Men of Science, 1796–1874

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. Table of Contents: Acknowledgements - List of Figures - Introduction: Two Average Men - 1. Life in the War: The End of Enlightenment in Belgium, 1796–1823 - 2. Casualties of War: Quetelet and Friends in Ghent and Brussels, 1815–23 - 3. Stoking the Sacred Fire: The Administration of Observation in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1822–30 - 4. From Brussels to Europe: The Creation of a Scientific Network, 1823–9 - 5. \_Physique Sociale\_, 1825–35 - 6. The Other Average Man: \_L’Homme Moyen\_ and its Critics - Conclusion: The New Argonauts - Epilogue: The Average Enlightenment - Works Cited - Notes - Index Adolphe Quetelet was an influential scientist whose controversial work was condemned by John Stuart Mill and Charles Dickens. He was in contact with many Victorian elite, including Babbage, Herschel and Faraday. This is the first scholarly biography of Quetelet, exploring his contribution to quantitative reasoning and place in intellectual history.