Home » Archive

Statisticians in History

Statisticians in History »

[30 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Karl Pearson (1857–1936) | 1,611 views]

Related Links
“Karl Pearson: A Reader’s Guide.” John Aldrich, University of Southampton. www.economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/kpreader.htm
“Karl Pearson.” J. J. O’Connor and E. F. Robertson, University of St Andrews. www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Pearson.html

Statisticians in History »

[30 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Harold Jeffreys (1891–1989) | 964 views]

Related Links
“Harold Jeffreys as a Statistician.” John Aldrich, University of Southampton. www.economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/jeffreysweb.htm
“Harold Jeffreys.” J. J. O’Connor and E. F. Robertson, University of St Andrews. www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Jeffreys.html

Statisticians in History »

[30 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on R. A. Fisher (1890–1962) | 3,758 views]

Related Links
“A Guide to R. A. Fisher.” John Aldrich, University of Southampton. www.economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/fisherguide/rafreader.htm
“Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher.” J. J. O’Connor and E. F. Robertson, University of St Andrews. www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Fisher.html
R. A. Fisher Digital Archive. Adelaide Research & Scholarship, The University of Adelaide. digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/3860

Statisticians in History »

[30 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Irving J. Good (1916–2009) | 1,468 views]

Irving J. Good was born in London in 1916 and became proficient in mental arithmetic by the age of nine. Lying in bed with diphtheria, he turned over in his mind his sister’s lesson on square roots. On his own, he realized the irrationality of the square root of two and solved Pell’s equation. The impressive feat of reaching these conclusions as a young boy is not compromised by the fact that they had been reached by others long before he was born.
In secondary school, Good distinguished himself in mathematics, …

Statisticians in History »

[30 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Francis Amasa Walker (1840–1897) | 2,590 views]

A Pioneer with Everlasting Energy
 
“General Walker considered each and every one of them [his public offices] a trust to be administered with integrity and with courage. He received degrees from more institutions of learning than any living American.” – Carroll D. Wright, 1897
Francis Amasa Walker was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 2, 1840. He died there on January 5, 1897. While alive, he fulfilled the roles of son, student, soldier, teacher, husband, father, professor, administrator, statistician, and author. He was the youngest child of Hannah (Ambrose) Walker and Amasa …

Statisticians in History »

[29 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Harold Hotelling (1895–1973) | 2,445 views]

by Megan Kruse
 
Harold Hotelling was born in Minnesota in 1895 and spent most of his childhood in Seattle, Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1919 and a master’s degree in mathematics in 1921 from the University of Washington. In 1924, he earned a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University, and began teaching at Stanford University that same year.
Hotelling soon realized that the field of statistics would be more useful if it employed methods of higher mathematics, so in 1929, he went to England to study with R. …

Statisticians in History »

[29 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Herman Hollerith (1860–1929) | 4,018 views]

One of the most famous statisticians, particularly in the history of computer development, is Herman Hollerith, the inventor of a “punch-card tabulation machine” that revolutionized the speed with which reams of data could be processed.
Hollerith was a key player in the computer revolution of the 20th century. In 1896, on the strength of his punched-card invention, Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company, which was the forerunner of the Computer Tabulating Recording Company—later International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM.
The son of German immigrants, Hollerith is said initially to have had little …

Statisticians in History »

[29 Oct 2018 | Comments Off on Frederick L. Hoffman (1865–1946) | 5,946 views]

By Francis J. Rigney, Jr. (grandson)
 
“I WOULD MAKE ANY SACRIFICE of time, pleasure, leisure, wealth, yes, of life itself, to attain the realization of my dreams.” –Frederick L. Hoffman, July 1921
The seventh president of the ASA, Frederick Ludwig Hoffman was born in Germany on May 2, 1865, into a professional family. His father, an accountant named Augustus Franziskus Hoffmann, died of consumption two months before Frederick’s eleventh birthday. His mother, Antoinette Marie Elise von Laar, sent Frederick to a boarding school to prepare him for college. However, when he returned …

A Statistician's Life, Statisticians in History »

[1 Sep 2018 | Comments Off on An Interview with Howard Wainer | 1,634 views]

In recognition of his extraordinary contributions to CHANCE magazine and the statistics profession in general, former CHANCE Executive Editor Sam Behseta sat down with Howard Wainer for a friendly chat.

A Statistician's Life, Statisticians in History »

[1 Sep 2018 | Comments Off on Megan Price: Life-Long ‘Math Nerd’ Finds Career in Social Justice | 1,749 views]

David Corliss interviews Megan Price, the executive director of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group.