Harmon, Glynn. Remembering William Goffman: Mathematical information science pioneer. Information Processing and Management 44 (2008) 1634 –1647

[Eugene Garfield]

Harmon, Glynn. Remembering William Goffman: Mathematical information 
science pioneer. Information Processing and Management 44 (2008) 1634–1647

gharmon at ischool.utexas.edu

Abstract 
This paper reviews the career and legacy of William (Bill) Goffman, who 
served as a researcher, Professor, Dean and Emeritus at Case Western 
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1959 to 2000. Goffman pioneered 
mathematical information science broadly and in several key areas. First, 
he applied disease epidemiology concepts to model accurately the spread of 
knowledge and the formation of knowledge systems and their ecologies, 
including the dynamics of scientific discovery. Second, he proposed 
significant improvements in information retrieval through the deployment 
of multi-valued logic, appropriate file ordering, effective and efficient 
retrieval measures, and simplified retrieval approaches, including early 
work in citation-based searching. Third, Goffman applied Bradford-like 
distributions to model effective core research literature collection 
development and usage. Fourth, he developed original epidemiology models, 
and was an early contributor in biomedical informatics. His mathematical 
contributions have stood the test of time and will continue to be 
applicable indefinitely. 
for full text of article preprint go to: 
http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/goffman.pdf

See also: HistCite files for W. Goffman - 
http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/histcomp/goffman-w_citing/index-tl.html