E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

Born in Tilbury, Ontario, on May 16, 1886, he moved with his family to the United States as an infant. He studied at Kingfisher College in Oklahoma, then earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1913. After teaching at several Midwestern institutions, he returned to the University of Chicago in 1916 and spent much of his career there.

Burgess is best known as one of the leading voices of the Chicago School. With Robert E. Park, he coauthored Introduction to the Science of Sociology (1921), an influential textbook, and he also became closely associated with urban sociology and the concentric-zone model of city growth. Beyond the city, his research ranged across family life, aging, delinquency, and parole prediction, showing his interest in how social patterns could be studied in practical, measurable ways.

He later served as president of the American Sociological Association and remained an important influence on twentieth-century sociology. Burgess died in Chicago on December 27, 1966. No suitable confirmed portrait image was located from the pages reviewed here, so a profile image is not included.