NEWSSCAN -- Today's Honorary Subscriber is the Belgian mathematician, astronomer, statistician and sociologist Lambert Adolphe (Jacques) Quetelet, (1796-1874), who is best known today for his application of statistics and the theory of probability to social phenomena. His 1835 seminal paper, "On Man and the Development of His Faculties; an Essay in Social Physics," laid the foundation for modern-day statistics. Influenced by Pierre Laplace and Joseph Fourier, Quetelet was the first to apply Gauss' normal curve of error to population statistics. He showed that measurements such as the chests of Scottish Soldiers and the heights of French Army draftees varied from the average in the same manner as would happen if one were plotting the repeated casting of dice. He invented the fiction of the "average man" as the central value around which measurements of human traits are distributed in conformity with the normal
probability curve. His studies of the numerical constancy of such
presumably voluntary acts as crimes stimulated extensive studies in "moral statistics" and widespread discussions of free will versus social determinism. In trying to discover through statistics the causes of acts in society, Quetelet noted the association between specific age groups and different social behaviors, such as criminal activities. This idea, like his "average man," concept evoked great controversy among social scientists in the 19th century. Quetelet was born in Ghent, Belgium and in 1819 received a doctorate
of science from that city's University. He then taught mathematics in
Brussels, later founding and directing the Royal Observatory after studying astronomy and probability for three months at the Observatory of Paris in 1824. He served as perpetual secretary of the Belgian Royal Academy and organized the first International Statistical Congress. For the Dutch government, and later the Belgian government, he collected and analyzed statistics on crime, mortality, and other subjects and devised improvements in census taking. He also developed methods for simultaneous observations of astronomical, meteorological, and geodetic phenomena from scattered points throughout Europe. In his honor the international measure of obesity is called the Quetelet Index, sometimes also called the Body mass index (BMI). As one of the most influential social statisticians of the nineteenth century, Quetelet's applications of statistical reasoning to social phenomena profoundly influenced the course of European social science.
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ABOARD IRISH RAIL -- If you needed any proof that the new Nokia 7650 is more than a a phone, all you need do is travel aboard Irish Rail to a hen party. The phone doubles as an integrated digital imaging device. Point, click, send. People in a rowdy group headed to Kilkenny were using the Nokia 7650 as their party viewfinder. They were snapping pictures and sharing the moments with friends all across the Vodafone network. They could also save the picture in the photo album. And with a little technical tweaking, they could make their snapshots into screensavers to wrap into their electronic wallpapers forever.
