Bernard Berelson (1912-1979), an American behavioral scientist, made major contributions in the fields of communications research, voting studies, and population policy. He virtually created the term "behavioral sciences" and became principally responsible for the establishment of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California.

Berelson was born in Spokane, Washington, on June 2, 1912. He received an A.B. from Whitman College in 1934, a B.S. in 1936 and an M.A. in 1937 from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1941. His graduate degrees were both in library science, and he served as a professor of library science and as dean of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago until he joined the staff of the Ford Foundation in 1951.

During World War II Berelson worked in Washington as an analyst of German opinion and morale with the Foreign...