Columbia emeritus professor Robert K. Merton spoke of the contributions made by Paul F. Lazarsfeld to the social sciences during a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Lazarsfeld's birth, held Sept. 29 at the Italian Academy. The event was organized by the University's Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), directed by Professor Peter S. Bearman. Lazarsfeld was professor of sociology for 30 years and director of Columbia's Bureau of Applied Social Research, a forerunner of ISERP.

"As Paul Lazarsefld once summed it up in an interview granted to a Parisian journalist: 'The bureau is the major work of my life and I trust this will be engraved on my tombstone,' " Merton said on the celebration. Merton was the first sociologist to be awarded the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor.

The day-long conference, "Theory as measurement and measurement as theory," recognized and debated Lazarsfeld's contributions to social science and identified issues that will confront social science in the next decade.

The Bureau of Applied Social Research was established in 1941 and helped make Columbia a pioneering institution in the social sciences.