Herbert A. Jacobs (April 8, 1903 – May 20, 1987) was a journalist for the ''

Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' and later a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

Houses

Jacobs was a friend of Frank Lloyd Wright. Jacobs and his wife Katherine commissioned Wright to design a house for them. This house, the

Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House, commonly referred to as Jacobs I, is a single family home located at 441 Toepfer Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Designed by noted American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, it was constructed ...

, was notable as the first example of Usonian architecture. Later, they commissioned Wright to design another house for them, the

Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House, often called Jacobs II, is a historic house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built west of Madison, Wisconsin, United States in 1946–48. The house was the second of two designed by Frank Lloyd Wright ...

Jacobs method for crowd size estimation

Jacobs worked for the ''

'' from 1931 until 1936, then for

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

's ''

Capital Times ''The Capital Times'' (or ''Cap Times'') is a digital-first newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by The Capital Times Company. The company also owns 50 percent of Capital Newspapers, which now does business as Madison Media Partners. The o ...

''. After retirement in 1962, he taught journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.Albert Scardino. Herbert Jacobs
30's Reporter Who Reshaped Architecture
New York Times Obituary, May 27, 1987. Jacobs was present in Berkeley during the Berkeley riots. It was at this time that he devised a method for measuring

crowd Generally speaking, a crowd is defined as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent such as at a demonstration, a sports event, or during looting (this is known as an acting crowd), or may simply be made up of many ...

size, the Jacobs Method:Steve Doig
How big will inaugural crowd be? Do the math When people gather in vast numbers, 'official' estimates often run wild
NBC News, January 15, 2009.

acobs'soffice was in a tower that overlooked the plaza where students frequently gathered to protest the Vietnam War. The plaza was marked with regular
grid lines In graphic design, a grid is a structure (usually two-dimensional) made up of a series of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal, and angular) or curved lines (grid lines) used to structure content. The grid serves as an armature or frame ...
, which allowed Jacobs to see how many grid squares were filled with students and how many students on average packed into each grid. After gathering data on numerous demonstrations, Jacobs came up with some rules of thumb that still are used today by those serious about crowd estimation. A loose crowd, one where each person is an arm's length from the body of his or her nearest neighbors, needs 10 square feet per person. A more tightly packed crowd fills 4.5 square feet per person. A truly scary mob of
mosh-pit Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other, typically performed to "aggressive" live music such as heavy metal and punk rock. Moshing usually happen ...
density would get about 2.5 square feet per person.

Death

Herbet Jacobs died of cancer on May 20, 1987.

Notes and references

Notes

References

1903 births 1987 deaths Crowd psychology 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Milwaukee Journal Sentinel people University of California, Berkeley faculty {{US-journalist-1900s-stub