Roger William Brown (April 14, 1925 December 11, 1997), an American social psychologist, was born in Detroit. World War II interrupted his education at the University of Michigan. During the Battle of Okinawa he served as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. Returning to Michigan after the war, he became interested in the science of linguistics, earning a Bachelors degree in psychology in 1948 and a Ph.D. in 1952. Following his graduation from Michigan, he became an instructor and then assistant professor at Harvard. In 1957 he left Harvard for a position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) where he wrote his monumental Words and Things. He became a full professor of psychology at M.I.T. in 1960.