High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert Alan Dahl (born 17 December 1915), is the Sterling Professor emeritus of political science at Yale University, where he earned his Ph.D. in political science in 1940. He is past president of the American Political Science Association and one of the most distinguished political scientists writing today. Dahl has often been described as "the Dean" of American political scientists. He earned this title by his prolific writing output and the fact that scores of prominent political scientists studied under him.