Born in Hungary, John Komlos is an American economic historian at the University of Munich where he is professor of economics and chair of economic history. He currently serves as a Visiting Professor of Economics at Duke University. In the 1980s, Komlos was instrumental in the emergence of anthropometric history, the study of the effect of economic development on human biological outcomes such as physical stature (height).

According to an article in the New Yorker that featured Dr. Komlos, "Over the past thirty years, a new breed of 'anthropometric historians' has tracked how populations around the world have changed in stature. Height, they’ve concluded, is a kind of biological shorthand: a composite code for all the factors that make up a society’s well-being. In our height lies the tale of our birth and upbringing, of our social class, daily diet, and health-care coverage. In our height lies our history."