Explanation:

- Here’s the thing: Emile Durkheim is the guy who came up with the idea of "social facts." He defined them as ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside the individual but shape and constrain our behavior.

- Max Weber focused more on ideas like verstehen (understanding) and social action, not so much on "social facts."

- Talcott Parsons brought big systems and structural functionalism into sociology, standing on the shoulders of folks like Durkheim, but he didn’t invent social facts.

- Robert K. Merton is famous for concepts like anomie and "role set." Again—not social facts.

So, the badge for social facts goes to Durkheim. The others had plenty to offer, but this one’s his.