Anthropometry, the study of human measurements such as height and weight, has several different applications.
Anthropometry is the study of human height, weight and the size of different body parts, and how those measurements vary under certain circumstances. Anthropometrical data and formulae are used in anthropological and medical research, forensic investigations and industrial design.
A Credible Science
Although anthropometry is now an accepted discipline, for many years it was considered a pseudoscience because of its use to support discriminatory theories and racist political agendas. Cesare Lombroso, a 19th century criminologist theorized that criminal tendencies could be linked to certain physical characteristics such as a large jaw. Scientists working in Nazi Germany believed they could use body measurement to distinguish a pure Aryan race from non-Aryans. More recently, however, anthropologists have done comparison studies using anthropometrical data and set a new and reliable standard for this discipline.
Anthropology
Physical anthropology focuses on the relationships between physical characteristics of human beings and their culture and environment. By studying fossils that reveal anthropometrical data from different eras, physical anthropology can trace how man has evolved and adapted over time. Skeletal remains that determine the size of hands and feet can help anthropologists determine various milestones such as when humans stopped moving on all fours and began walking upright, and when they started to develop and use tools.
Medicine
Anthropometry also plays a role in medicine. Measurements of height, weight and more specific body measurements including girths and skin folds allow researchers to trace trends and determine how nutrition affects human growth and development. Data on the height and weight of a particular group can also provide important evidence in research areas such as the role obesity plays in human disease.
Forensic Science
Anthropometry has also become a key component of forensic science. Anthropometry comes into play when investigators are trying to determine the sex, race, physical stature and time of death of a person based on human remains that may be as small as a bone fragment. Law enforcement officials use anthropometry as a tool to help establish the identify people who may also be victims of crime.
Design
More recently, anthropometry has become a tool for industrial designers who are responsible for determining the amount of leg room needed in an airplane, or the size of student desks in a second grade classroom. By studying anthropometric data, designers can judge the sizes in which clothing should be produced for certain groups and how much space is needed in a standard doorway. They can also determine how a human body might react in situations such as car crashes at various speeds. Designers can use human measurement to make products better suited and safer for the consumers for whom they are being manufactured.
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