Adolphe Quetelet

The first to earn a doctorate in science at the newly founded University of Ghent in 1819, Quetelet studied astronomy in Paris before founding the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels in 1828. He applied Gaussian normal distribution probability curves to human physical and social characteristics.

In his 1835 landmark treatise Sur l'homme et le développement de ses facultés, he introduced the concept of 'l'homme moyen' (the average man) and formulated the Quetelet Index (weight divided by height squared, now universally known as BMI). He organized the First International Statistical Congress in Brussels in 1853.