F.(rancis) Stuart Chapin (1888-1974) was one of the first American sociologists to try to apply the research procedures of the physical sciences and the techniques of statistics to studies of social behavior, particularly in the areas of social and cultural change and social status.

F. Stuart Chapin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1888. He was educated at Columbia University and received his Ph.D. in sociology in 1911 with additional training in statistics. He taught at Wellesley College in 1911-1912, at Simmons College in 1912, and from 1912-1914 was an instructor in sociology and statistics at Smith College. Promoted to assistant professor in 1914 and associate professor in the same year, he eventually became professor of sociology and statistics and director of Smith's School of Social Work in 1919.

Chapin joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota in 1922, where he served as director of that institution's School of Social...