Body mass index (Quetelet index)
Índice de masa corporal (índice de Quetelet)
- Date
- c. 1832 · confidence medium
- Place
- Brussels, Belgium
- Credited to
- Adolphe Quetelet
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
Belgian astronomer and statistician Adolphe Quetelet devised the ratio of weight to height squared to characterize the 'average man' as part of his project of social physics, with no original medical intent.
Quetelet did not intend an individual medical use; the term 'body mass index' and its clinical use were popularized from 1972 onward following a study by Ancel Keys.
What it led to
- birth of social and anthropometric statistics
- later adoption as a clinical screening tool for body weight in the 20th century
- ongoing debates over the limitations of BMI as a measure of individual health