ASA Connect

Are you looking for an interesting book to read? We invite you to visit the History of Statistics Interest Group's Book Nook at https://community.amstat.org/historyofstats/ourlibrary/new-item4.

 

We just added lists of biographies, autobiographies, and portrait biographies. Here you will find references to books about these prominent statisticians:

 

George Box

R.A. Fisher

William Sealy Gosset (Student)

Fred Mosteller

Jerzy Neyman

Karl Pearson

Elizabeth L. Scott

 

You will also find references to books that contain brief biographies of hundreds of statistical scientists.

 

Please let us know your suggestions to add to these lists!

 

It's easy (and free!) to join the History of Statistics Interest Group. Visit our Join page at https://community.amstat.org/historyofstats/aboutus/join.

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Amanda Golbeck
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Biostatistics
UAMS - Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health
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Amanda: This is a very nice list. I especially appreciate that my book Willful Ignorance is included.  :- ) In checking my bibliography, I came across a few more references you might wish to add:

Helen Walker (1934) Abraham de Moivre. Scripta Mathematica, 2: 316-333.

D.O. Thomas (1977) The Honest Mind: The Thought and Work of Richard Price. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

David R. Bellhouse (2011) Abraham de Moivre: Setting the Stage for Classical Probability and its Applications. Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press.

I also note that in this 100th anniversary of Fisher's fateful decision to join Rothamstead, we should advocate for Wiley to bring out a new edition of Joan Fisher Box's biography. Used copies are currently going for $200 and up! I'm not sure if the Fisher estate would allow a new printing, assuming they control the rights, but it would be a fitting tribute.

Just a thought.

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Herbert Weisberg
Causalytics LLC
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The Lady Tasting Tea by David Salsburg would also belong to this group.

Thanks for the list!

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Weston McManus
SAS Institute
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Amanda: Thank you for a very useful bibliography. Here are two additional entries for your list. They are edited volumes that collected together the "Studies in the History of Probability and Statistics" series that appeared in Biometrika , up through the 1970's:

E.S. Pearson and M.G. Kendall (1970) Studies in the History of Statistics and Probability, Volume I. London: Griffin
Sir M. Kendall and R.L. Plackett (1977). Studies in the History of Statistics and Probability, Volume II. London: Griffin

Keith Ord
Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University

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Keith Ord
Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University
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Thank you, Amanda, for that. One book I would add to your list is "The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century" by David Salsburg. Best regards - Dominic

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Dominic Lusinchi
Independent researcher & consultant
San Francisco, Calif.
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Thanks for the suggestions!

Speaking strictly for myself (of course) I find full book-length coverage of an individual or topic to generally have more details than I care for unless I am truly fascinated by the individual or topic (or taking a course in it).

It wouldn't be hard to find shorter biographies of individuals online (Wikipedia for a start) but the topical histories might be more of a challenge,  Had you considered creating a resource list of published magazine-length articles on things like the early history of statistics, etc...? 

They must be out there somewhere.  Some may even be public domain or available via a link online.

Ed

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Edward Gracely
Drexel University
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