ABSTRACT
Beginning with the problematic of sexual-reproductive precocity, modern puberty science took shape along two main interweaving lines of transformation. Initiated at the dawn of the 1800s, the first movement was the shift from the monstrous to the abnormal individual in medical discourses on pubertal prematurity. By the 1930s, the notion of physiological age infused the standpoints and methodologies of most anthropometric and physiological attempts to standardise the pubertal body, allowing for a new intricated network of physical and molecular measurements. By the mid-20th century, J. M. Tanner’s brilliant academic career had taken off. In 1952, Tanner reviewed the two main strategies used in constructing growth curves – i.e. the centile and standard deviation systems – and the types of standards that one can achieve with them, namely for the size and tempo of growth. One of Tanner’s main sources covering the 19th century was hospital data for Norway.
