Louis (Eliyahu) Guttman (February 10, 1916 – October 25, 1987; he, לואיס (אליהו) גוטמן) was an American
sociologist and Professor of Social and Psychological Assessment at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, known primarily for his work in
social statistics
Social statistics is the use of statistical measurement systems to study human behavior in a social environment. This can be accomplished through polling a group of people, evaluating a subset of data obtained about a group of people, or by observ ...
.
Biography
Guttman was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on February 10, 1916 and grew up in the Jewish community of
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
. Guttman received both his BA in 1936 and MA in 1939 at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, and his PhD in Social and Psychological Measurement in 1942.
From 1941 to 1947 Guttman was professor of sociology at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, while as part of the World War II effort, he also served as an Expert Consultant to the US Army's Research Branch. In 1947 Guttman and his wife Ruth emigrated to
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
.
He founded and was the scientific director of the Israel Institute of Applied Social Research, later renamed the Guttman Institute before finally becoming the
Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.
He was member of the
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...
, and foreign Honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
and President of the
Psychometric Society
The Psychometric Society is an international nonprofit professional organization devoted to the advancement of quantitative measurement practices in psychology, education, and the social sciences.
The society publishes a scientific journal calle ...
. In 1956 he was elected a Fellow at the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social a ...
. In 1962 he received the
Rothschild Prize
Yad Hanadiv (The Rothschild Foundation) is a Rothschild family philanthropic foundation in Israel.
Goals and objectives
Yad Hanadiv defines its mission as: Dedicated to creating resources for advancing Israel as a healthy, vibrant, democratic s ...
. The development of scaling theory by Louis Guttman and
Clyde Coombs
Clyde Hamilton Coombs (July 22, 1912 – February 4, 1988) was an American psychologist specializing in the field of Psychometrics, mathematical psychology. He devised a voting system, that was hence named Coombs' method.
Coombs founded the Mathem ...
has been recognized by
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
as one of 62 major advances in the social sciences in the period 1900-1965. Other awards were:
*1974 Regents of the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
- Outstanding Achievement Award
*1978
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
in the
social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
*1984 Educational Testing Service Measurement Award from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
.
Guttman died on October 25, 1987, while on sabbatical in Minneapolis.
Work
Guttman research interests were in the fields of
scale and
factor analysis
Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed ...
,
multidimensional scaling
Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a means of visualizing the level of similarity of individual cases of a dataset. MDS is used to translate "information about the pairwise 'distances' among a set of n objects or individuals" into a configurati ...
and
facet theory
Facet theory is a metatheory for the multivariate behavioral sciences that posits that scientific theories and measurements can be advanced by discovering relationships between ''conceptual classifications'' of research variables and ''empirical pa ...
. His mathematical and philosophical treatments of Factor analysis are among the important parts of his scientific legacy.
His earlier work in scaling analysis produced what has become to be known as the
Guttman scale. Later, searching for a more flexible scaling scheme, Guttman explored
Partial Order Scalogram Analysis (POSA) and applied it in empirical studies. Notably, Guttman first proved several fundamental theorems in matrix algebra, as discussed in papers by Hubert, Meulman and Heiser (2000) and Takane and Yanai (2005). Several of Guttman's contributions, such as
Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), have been incorporated into computer packages.
Guttman was described as a brilliant innovator who "saw theory in method and method in theory", was "informed by high sophistication in mathematics, statistics, sociology and psychology", and one who "made a major contribution to democratic policy-making in the new state" and "was concerned with the 'well-being' of individuals, groups and society".
[(from a posthumous award ceremony by the World Association of Public Opinion Research, 1988)]
Publications
Guttman published in numerous journals and books, including over 300 pages in ''
Psychometrika
''Psychometrika'' is the official journal of the Psychometric Society, a professional body devoted to psychometrics and quantitative psychology. The journal covers quantitative methods for measurement and evaluation of human behavior, including ...
''. Many of his papers are still quoted in the scientific literature as being relevant and important to current statistical and mathematical advances.
His innovative methodological work on attitudes was published in the 4th volume of Studies in Social Psychology in World War II (more popularly called ''The American Soldier'' series, after the title of the first two volumes).
References
Further Reading
Shye, S. (1988). Louis Guttman 1916-1987. ''Applied Psychological Measurement,'' ''12''(1) 1-4.
https://doi.org/10.1177/014662168801200101
Lingoes, J.C., Tucker, L.R., & Shye, S. (1988). Louis E. Guttman (1916-1987). ''Psychometrika'', ''53''(2): 153-159.
External links
Guttman Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guttman, Louis
American emigrants to Israel
American Zionists
Israeli mathematicians
Israeli scientists
Israeli Jews
Jewish American scientists
Jewish scientists
University of Minnesota alumni
Cornell University faculty
Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty
Israel Prize in social sciences recipients
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Scientists from New York City
1916 births
1987 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
Mathematicians from New York (state)
20th-century American Jews