Michele Christian, Iowa State University Library Associate Professor-Special Collections Department

In 1991, alumni and friends of Iowa State University’s Department of Statistics and Statistical Laboratory provided support for filming an interview with Oscar Kempthorne, notable statistician and statistics professor at Iowa State University. Noel Cressie (former Iowa State University statistics professor) conducted the interview on July 31, 1991, at Iowa State University.

In the video, Kempthorne discusses his life and career as a statistician. He touches on monitoring the election in Greece after World War II; working for Iowa State; his views on statistical theory and practice; and his consulting, research, and publications. This video is number 28 in the American Statistical Association’s Distinguished Statistician Video Series.

The video was originally stored on VHS, a copy of which is housed in the Special Collections Department at Iowa State University Library. In 2006, the Special Collections Department had the videotape transferred to DVD to provide additional access. In 2010, the department added “Oscar Kempthorne: From Observation to Inference” to its ever-growing collection of videos on YouTube.

Because YouTube limits the time for each video to 15 minutes, the interview was divided into five parts. If you have a problem viewing this video here, visit the YouTube site.

In addition, the department houses Kempthorne’s papers, which are available to download as a PDF.