On February 23, 2003 (January 23, 2003 in the lunar calendar), Merton, an American sociologist and one of the representatives of structural functionalism, passed away. Introduction to the life of Robert King Merton: A famous American sociologist, the founder of scientific sociology and one of the representative figures of the school of structural functionalism. Born on July 4, 1910, into a civilian family in southern Philadelphia, USA. He received a bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1931, and then entered the world-renowned Harvard University, where he studied under famous sociologists P.A. Sorokin and T. Parsons and scientific historian G.A.L. Salton. After receiving a doctorate in sociology in 1936, he stayed in school to teach for three years. From 1939 to 1941, he worked at the University of Tulane, successively serving as associate professor, professor and chairman of the Department of Sociology. In 1941, Merton went to the University of Colombia, where he spent his entire sociological career. He served successively as chairman of the Department of Sociology at Colombia University, deputy director of the Institute of Applied Sociology, and chairman of the American Sociological Association (1956-1957), Chairman of the Eastern Sociological Association of the United States (1968-1969), Chairman of the American Sociological Research Society of Science (1975-1976), President of the Academy of Social Sciences (1975), etc. Retired from the University of Colombia in 1979 and was awarded Special Services Professor and Emeritus Professor. He died on February 23, 2003 in New York at the age of 92.