Editing Robert K. Merton (section)

==Biography==
===Early life===
Robert King Merton was born on July 4, 1910, in [[Philadelphia]] as Meyer Robert Schkolnick<ref name="nytimes.com"/> into a family of [[Yiddish]]-speaking [[Russian Jews]] who had immigrated to the United States in 1904. His mother was Ida Rasovskaya, an "unsynagogued" [[Socialism|socialist]] who had freethinking radical sympathies. His father was Aaron Schkolnickoff, a tailor who had officially been registered at port of entry to the United States as "Harrie Skolnick".<ref name="Simonson2010"/> Merton's family lived in strained financial circumstances after his father's uninsured dairy-product shop in [[South Philadelphia]] burned down. His father later became a carpenter's assistant to support the family.<ref name="ASA">{{cite web |title=Robert King Merton |url=https://www.asanet.org/robert-k-merton/ |website=American Sociological Association |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref>

Even though Merton grew up fairly poor, he believed that he had been afforded many opportunities.<ref name="footnotes">{{cite journal | url=http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/footnotes/mar03/indextwo.html | title=Robert K. Merton Remembered | author=Calhoun, Craig | year=2003 | journal=Footnotes | publisher=American Sociological Association | access-date=January 17, 2019}}</ref> As a student at [[South Philadelphia High School]], he was a frequent visitor to nearby cultural and educational venues, including the [[Carnegie library|Andrew Carnegie Library]], the [[Academy of Music (Philadelphia)|Academy of Music]], the Central Library, and the Museum of Arts. In 1994, Merton stated that growing up in [[South Philadelphia]] provided young people with "every sort of capital—social capital, cultural capital, human capital, and, above all, what we may call public capital—that is, with every sort of capital except the personally financial."<ref>Merton, Robert K. 1996 [1994]. "A Life of Learning." Pp.&nbsp;339–59 in ''On Social Structure and Science'', edited by [[Piotr Sztompka]]. Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]]. p.&nbsp;346.</ref>

He adopted the name Robert K. Merton initially as a stage name for his [[Magic (illusion)|magic]] performances.<ref name="Simonson2010" /> Young Merton developed a strong interest in magic, heavily influenced by his sister's boyfriend. For his magic acts he initially chose the stage name "Merlin", but eventually settled on the surname "Merton" to further "Americanize" his immigrant-family name. He picked the given name "Robert" in honor of the 19th-century French magician [[Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin]], widely considered the father of modern-style [[Evocation|conjuring]]. Thus his stage name became "Robert Merton", and he kept it as his personal name upon receiving a scholarship to [[Temple University]].<ref name="footnotes" />

===Education===
Merton began his sociological career under the guidance of George E. Simpson at Philadelphia's [[Temple University]] (1927–1931). Merton's work as Simpson's [[research assistant]] on a project dealing with race and media introduced Merton to sociology. Under Simpson's leadership, Merton attended an [[American Sociological Association]] annual meeting where he met [[Pitrim A. Sorokin]], the founding chair of the [[Harvard University]] sociology department. Merton applied to Harvard and  worked from 1931 to 1936 as a research assistant to Sorokin.<ref name=":0">[[Piotr Sztompka|Sztompka, Piotr]]. 2003. "Robert K. Merton." Pp. 12–33 in ''The Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists'', edited by [[George Ritzer|G. Ritzer]]. Malden, MA: Blackwell. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-0595-8}}.</ref>

By his second year at Harvard he had begun publishing with Sorokin. In 1934 he began publishing articles of his own, including "Recent French Sociology", "The Course of Arabian Intellectual Development, 700–1300 A.D.", "Fluctuations in the Rate of Industrial Invention", and "Science and Military Technique".<ref name="ASA"/> In 1936 he graduated from Harvard, having obtained an [[Master of Arts|MA]] and PhD in sociology.<ref name="Swedberg">{{cite journal |last1=Swedberg |first1=Richard |title=How Do you Make Sociology out of Data? Robert K. Merton's Course in Theorizing (Soc 213–214) |journal=The American Sociologist |date=2019 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=85–120 |doi=10.1007/s12108-018-9399-8 |jstor=48691724 |s2cid=255506104 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48691724 |access-date=27 March 2023 |issn=0003-1232|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

By the end of his student career in 1938 he embarked on works that brought him renown, publishing his first major study, ''Science, Technology, and Society in Seventeenth-Century England'', which helped create the [[sociology of science]].<ref name="footnotes" /> Merton's dissertation committee comprised Sorokin, [[Talcott Parsons]], the historian [[George Sarton]], and the biochemist [[Lawrence Joseph Henderson]].<ref name="coserbio">{{cite book |editor1-last=Coser |editor1-first=Lewis |editor1-link=Lewis Coser |last1=Cole |first1=Jonathan |author-link1=Jonathan R. Cole |author-link2=Harriet Zuckerman |last2=Zuckerman |first2=Harriet |date=1975 |title=The Idea of Social Structure: Papers in Honor of Robert K. Merton |chapter=The Emergence of a Scientific Specialty: The Self-Exemplifying Case of the Sociology of Science |location=New York |publisher=[[Harcourt (publisher)#Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] |pages=139–174 }}</ref> [[Merton thesis|Merton's thesis]]—similar to [[Max Weber]]'s [[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism|famous claim]] about a link between the [[Protestant work ethic]] and the [[capitalist economy]]—proposed a positive [[correlation]] between the rise of [[Pietism|Protestant pietism]], [[Puritans|Puritanism]], and early experimental science.<ref name=":0" />

===Personal life===
In 1934 Merton married Suzanne Carhart, with whom he had a son, [[Robert C. Merton]], winner of the 1997 [[Nobel Prize in economics]], and two daughters, Stephanie Merton Tombrello and Vanessa Merton, professor of law at [[Pace University School of Law]]. In 1968 Merton and Carhart separated; she died in 1992.<ref name="ReferenceA">"Renowned Columbia Sociologist and National Medal of Science Winner Robert K. Merton Dies at 92." ''Columbia News''.</ref>

In 1993 Merton married his fellow sociologist and collaborator, [[Harriet Zuckerman]]. After years of failing health, and battling six forms of cancer, Merton died in [[Manhattan]] on 23 February 2003, aged 92. He was survived by his wife, three children, nine grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>