(1916 – 1987)
Professor Louis (Eliyahu) Guttman, Scientific Director of the Israel Institute of Applied Social Research and Professor of Social and Psychological Assessment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was born in New York on February 10, 1916, grew up in the Jewish community of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and died there on October 25, 1987, while on sabbatical. He founded, and until his death, headed, the Israel Institute for Applied Social Research, later renamed the Guttman Institute. His work left a legacy of major developments in the theory and practice of scale and factor analysis, multidimensional scaling analysis, and Facet Theory. His earlier work in scaling analysis produced what has been called the ‘Guttman Scale.’
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 as someone 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).
Guttman received both his undergraduate (BA, 1936) and graduate training (MA, 1939) at the University of Minnesota, earning a doctorate in social and psychological measurement in 1942. From 1941 to 1947, Guttman was a professor of sociology at Cornell University while, as part of the World War II effort, he also served as an Expert Consultant to the US Army’s Research Branch. His innovative methodological work on attitudes was published in the 4th volume of the American Soldier.
Being an active and devoted Zionist, he moved in 1947 with his wife Ruth (a behavior geneticist) to Israel and made it his home, where he founded the behavioral unit of the military, which eventually became the Israel Institute of Applied Social Research. He devoted his time and efforts to creating an innovative and outstanding social research Institute in Jerusalem, with worldwide scientific connections, and remained its scientific director until his last day, alongside his academic contribution to the Hebrew University, where he influenced researchers, scientists, and students.
Professor Guttman published in numerous journals and books, including over 300 pages in Psychometrika. Many of his papers are still quoted in the scientific literature as being relevant and important to current statistical and mathematical advances. Of these, Scale Analysis, Facet Theory, and his mathematical and philosophical treatments of Factor Analysis are among the important parts of his scientific legacy. Several of Guttman’s contributions have been incorporated into computer packages, including Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) and Partial Order Scalogram Analysis (POSAC).
In 1971, the journal Science included Guttman in a list of the 62 most important contributors to scientific research in the social sciences since the beginning of the 20th century. He was elected a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, a Foreign Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and served as the only non-U.S. resident President of the Psychometric Society. Guttman was the recipient of many honors and awards, including an appointment as Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, 1955-1956), the Rothschild Prize (1962), the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Regents of the University of Minnesota (1974), the Israel Prize in the Social Sciences (1978), and the Educational Testing Service Measurement Award from Princeton (1984).