PROFILE: Henry Brady, Big Scientist

Abstract

Henry Brady's career is a testament to the virtues of big social science—big questions, big datasets, big toolkits, big institutions. While much of political science still functions as a cottage industry, he has played a leading role in the second generation of our discipline's post-war industrial revolution. Building on the varied contributions of such earlier stalwarts as Warren Miller, David Truman, Gabriel Almond, and Paul Lazarsfeld, Brady has contributed significantly to the theoretical, empirical, methodological, and institutional development of the field. With intelligence, energy, and good will, he has instigated and nurtured a remarkable variety of projects, partnerships, and programs to advance our understanding of important political phenomena.