Max Weber

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German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself. He is best known for his thesis of the “Protestant ethic,” relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Weber’s great capacity for disciplined intellectual effort, together with his unquestionable brilliance, led to his meteoric professional advance. One year after his appointment at Berlin, he became a full professor in political economy at Freiburg, and the following year (1896) he attained that position at Heidelberg. Weber’s intellectual breadth in the study of societies can hardly be overestimated; it surpassed that of his predecessors, mainly Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim. After the First World War, Max Weber was among the founders of the liberal German Democratic Party. He also ran unsuccessfully for a seat in parliament and served as advisor to the committee that drafted the ill-fated democratic Weimar Constitution of 1919. One marriage, no children. Weber contracted the Spanish flu and died of pneumonia in Munich on 14 June 1920. Link to Wikipedia biography