Context: James Tanner had a foundational role in promoting the modelling of growth data as an important step in further understanding the science of human growth.
Objective: A perspective on how growth models have determined the questions researchers ask and the methods used to analyse data is historically informative. Alternatively, it is useful to review that mathematical models are representations of growth as a function of time and carry assumptions that require consideration in terms of the goals of a research inquiry.
Methods: An overview of the history of the study of human growth models and modelling is summarized with reference to the important roles that these have played in the perceptions of the human growth process.
Results: Growth models are important descriptive summaries, embody empirical evidence and provide the opportunity for hypotheses-testing that aides the understanding, explanation and prediction of growth processes and systems. These models are modified as novel data emerge. More frequent sampling protocols and the development of mathematical models has advanced mechanistic investigations of the human growth process.
Conclusions: Technical advances in science are important to investigate potential underlying mechanisms of growth and develop interventions based on a more accurate model of growth biology.