Frederick Winslow Taylor

Frederick Winslow Taylor
Taylor circa 1900
Born	March 20, 1856 (1856-03-20) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	March 21, 1915(1915-03-21) (aged 59) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Resting place	West Laurel Hill Cemetery Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Efficiency expert Management consultant
Known for	"Father" of the Scientific management & Efficiency Movement, Father of Industrial Engineering
Home town	Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Religion	Quaker
Spouse(s)	Louise M. Spooner
Children	Kempton, Robert and Elizabeth (all adopted orphans)
Parent(s)	Franklin Taylor Emily Annette Winslow
Awards	Elliott Cresson Medal (1902)

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. Taylor was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his ideas, broadly conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s). Taylor summed up his efficiency techniques in his 1911 book The Principles of Scientific Management. His pioneering work in applying engineering principles to the work done on the factory floor was instrumental in the creation and development of the branch of engineering that is now known as industrial engineering. Taylor was also an athlete who competed nationally in tennis and golf.

Taylor was born in 1856 to a Quaker family in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Taylor's father, Franklin Taylor, a Princeton-educated lawyer, built his wealth on mortgages. Taylor's mother, Emily Annette Taylor (née Winslow), was an ardent abolitionist and a coworker with Lucretia Mott. His father's ancestor, Samuel Taylor, settled in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1677. His mother's ancestor, Edward Winslow, was one of the fifteen original Mayflower Pilgrims who brought servants or children, and one of eight who had the honorable distinction of Mister. Winslow served for many years as the Governor of the Plymouth colony.

Educated early by his mother, Taylor studied for two years in France and Germany and traveled Europe for 18 months. In 1872, he entered Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, with the plan of eventually going to Harvard and becoming a lawyer like his father. In 1874, Taylor passed the Harvard entrance examinations with honors. However, due allegedly to rapidly deteriorating eyesight, Taylor chose quite a different path.