Please permit me to extend an invitation to one (or more) statistical consulting section and any ASA members who may have both interest and time to assist me for perhaps one or two hours (or certainly more) in preparation of a note for AMSTAT news. This is about the statistician referred to as a "pacifist, socialist, and scholar" and "Chronicler of Political Murder" AND a mathematician and statistician - contributions of Emil J. Gumbel, a man considered an "apostle of peace" elsewhere "militant pacifist" in Germany for a period of time prior to, during and after the rise of the National Socialists. The following is as brief as possible preview of my forthcoming short note ( <= ~ 200 words ) to be submitted and appear in the AMSTAT news. I have confirmed the planned submission of the note with Ron Wasserstein and I'm awaiting replies from a member(s) of the ASA history of statistics committee who may well have more details. And I'm honored to include anyone assisting me as a co-author. And I would sincerely appreciate assistance from anyone familiar with "extreme value theory" and "Gumbel distribution" and related -these are not (Yet) part of my basic technical statistical skill set.
Key Berlin Geography, Museums and Gumbel background
I'm temporarily living in Berlin Germany for an important personal family matter and having until the following no plan for anything involving statistics. And after only a couple of weeks in Berlin as this evolves , quoting from a June 26 1963 POTUS speech "Ich bin ein Berliner" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ha9GJwlus8
A geographical data point. I'm staying in the "Mitte" district. This area was formerly East Berlin and I'm staying in a rental apartment about ½ block from remnants of The Berlin Wall.. A couple of days ago, I visited the Berlin museum named "Topography of Terror" - Topographie des Terrors https://www.topographie.de/en/ . The museum has many exhibits about the rise of the "national socialists" (I deliberately avoid using better known short four letter name that includes the letter Z). I recommend anyone planning to visit Berlin also visit the museum. .For those who have yet to visit (or ever visited) Berlin, there are many other important museums in this city. This note arises from the museum I happened to visit first.
Emil J Gumbel
While browsing and reading the exhibits, I noted one titled (in both German And English) "Chronicler of Political Murder" and a photo and citation to an Emil Julius Gumbel " a mathematician." Expand this iPhone picture as large as possible (https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisphotos/53693236366/ )
Please note The exhibit text has a provocative comment about Gumbel's "statistical surveys, 1918-1922 which may (or may not ) be included in his collected work in New York City at the
Center for Jewish History https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/5/resources/18079
EXCERPT
Excerpt from a description in one of several different sources I found on the internet search
BIOGRAPHY
Among the most noble political and moral causes of the twentieth century
has been the struggle against Nazism from its gestation and turbulent youth
to its murderous maturity. Few people persevered in that struggle as did
Emil J. Gumbel (1891-1966), a German leftist intellectual, pacifist, socialist,
and scholar who spent most of his adult life fighting to promote German
democracy against militarism and Nazism. Gumbel fought this struggle
against fascism zealously and courageously, despite hostility and frequent
physical danger. His exposes on political terror and political justice created
scandals in their day and remain the most thorough works on these
subjects. He was also a fervent critic of German militarism and was the
center of one of the most spectacular controversies in Weimar academic
life. The Nazis branded him an enemy of the German people and hounded
him into exile, where he participated extensively in emigre* political and
cultural activities.
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Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Past Chair
Statistical Consulting Section
Consultant and
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics
www.barkerstats.com---
"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy
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