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Clyde Coombs

1912 – 1988

American psychologist

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About Clyde Coombs

Lived 1912 – 1988 (aged 75). Clyde Coombs was an American psychologist.

Clyde Hamilton Coombs (July 22, 1912 – February 4, 1988) was an American psychologist specializing in the field of mathematical psychology. He devised a voting system, that was hence named Coombs' method.

Education and career Coombs was born in New Jersey but spent most of his childhood in California. He studied at Santa Barbara State College (later University of California, Santa Barbara), the continued his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.

Coombs founded the Mathematical Psychology program at the University of Michigan. His students included Amos Tversky, Robyn Dawes, and Baruch Fischhoff, all important researchers in Decision Sciences. The classic text "An Introduction to Mathematical Psychology," by Coombs, Robyn Dawes, and Amos Tversky was a must for Michigan graduate students in Mathematical and Experimental Psychology.

Honors and awards In 1959, Coombs was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

The development of scaling theory by Louis Guttman and Clyde Coombs has been recognized by Science as one of 62 major advances in the social sciences in the period 1900–1965

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Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Nationality
Education
University of Chicago
Employers
University of Michigan
Awards
APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology; Fellow of the American Statistical Association; Honorary doctor of Leiden University; Guggenheim Fellowship
Also known as
Clyde Hamilton Coombs

People in Clyde Coombs's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Clyde Coombs's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Clyde Coombs?

American psychologist

When was Clyde Coombs born?

Clyde Coombs was born on 22 July 1912.

When did Clyde Coombs die?

Clyde Coombs died on 4 February 1988.

What was Clyde Coombs's occupation?

Clyde Coombs was a psychologist.

What nationality was Clyde Coombs?

Clyde Coombs was American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Clyde Coombs

· Wikidata: Q5136896

· DBpedia: Clyde Coombs

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Clyde Coombs. https://biography.guide/clyde-coombs/

MLA: "Clyde Coombs." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/clyde-coombs/.

Chicago: "Clyde Coombs." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/clyde-coombs/.

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