Word: maccaffreys
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...years ago," says History Department Chairman Wallace MacCaffrey, "we didn't have anyone in the department doing that sort of historical research." Today, he cites Stephan A. Thernstrom, Winthrop Professor of History, and David Herlihy, Lea Professor of Medieval History, as Harvard scholars applying scientific methods to problems in history...
...MacCaffrey joins other professors in ascribing this relatively new interest to rapid developments in computer technology and massive increases in the amount of statistical data available to a researcher--through censuses and other federal surveys...
...MacCaffrey notes that the desire to quantify the social sciences predates the introduction of computers and data banks to do the research. "It's an impulse that's been operating for a couple of generations," he says. When economics began to emerge as a successful application of natural-scientific methods to a social science, developing universal laws and principles, other disciplines sought to follow suit, he explains...
...When a Nobel Prize winner makes a statement about matter, we can all nod our heads and say. 'Yes--that's true,'" says MacCaffrey. "I think a lot of historians would like to have that kind of effect. The rise of computers was a gift to people with this kind of interest...
...department to teach writing." MacCaffrey said, explaining that "when writing isn't crystal clear, it's usually because ideas aren't crystal clear in the head...