| It seems I have always tried to approach research in whatever field from the perspective of science. In the field of family history it made the difference between history, as usually pursued, and genealogy, as based on the science of genealogy. History easily concentrates on personalities, politics, and culture, all very much more difficult to constrict into concepts that can be measured. Undoubtedly science is ingrained into my personality. Early in school my favorite subjects were mathematics and science. When out of curiosity I undertook research on my family roots, principles from these more exacting disciplines manifested themselves in my work. |
Formalizing genealogy.As a professional genealogist in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s I took pride in the research report. Some of the fruits of this formative period are published on this web site: |
| These papers may serve to give a flavor of my early commitment to science as it came to permeate my approach to the subject of family history. |
Science in genealogy.Yet in those formative years in college I delved into the roots of mathematics and science. When I undertook work in family history for the Corporation of the President, I was able to pursue this interest in the form of probabilistic record linkage:The present work is a result of continuing efforts related to family history, but this time in the development of programs and projects that remain true to my commitment to science. They should refect a deep respect for knowledge and understanding, the fundamental goals of science and the underlying principles upon which the language of science, i.e., mathematics, is based. |
Evolution of work.This work was first developed as a small introduction to my grammar of English. One major revision was to remove the peripheral studies from that grammar, but nevertheless make them available as excursus for the interested reader. I don’t think that the idea was really very successful; they had the effect of making the grammar itself less accessible. They are now fully outside the grammar. This has made it more appropriate in this treatment of science to make direct reference to the domain of genealogy. A similar process occurred with the material on logic and model building, which have also become separated from grammar, though not so distinctly oriented to genealogy. Hopefully, I will be able to make these works more coherent as time goes by. |