George Kingsley Zipf
Pioneering American linguist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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George Kingsley Zipf (/ˈzɪf/;[1] January 7, 1902 – September 25, 1950), was an American linguist and philologist who studied statistical occurrences in different languages.[2]
George Kingsley Zipf | |
---|---|
Born | (1902-01-07)January 7, 1902 |
Died | September 25, 1950(1950-09-25) (aged 48) |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Harvard College |
Known for | Zipf's law |
Spouse | Joyce Waters Brown Zipf |
Children | Robert Zipf, Katherine Sandstrom, Joyce Harrington, Henry Zipf |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Statistics, linguistics |
Zipf earned his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from Harvard University, although he also studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin.[2] He was chairman of the German department and university lecturer (meaning he could teach any subject he chose) at Harvard University.[2] He worked with Chinese and demographics, and much of his effort can explain properties of the Internet, distribution of income within nations, and many other collections of data.[3]