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Published three times a year, the ISI Newsletter provides a broad overview of the Institute's activities, and also includes additional information of interest to statisticians. The Newsletter is sent to all members of the ISI and its Sections (approx. 5,000) as part of their membership.
Editors: W. Senden and Ms. S. Mehta, Graphic Designer: Mr. H. Lucas
In this online Issue Message from the President ISI Durban Session: 16-22 August 2009
Building a link between the ISI and African Statisticians
Invited Paper Meetings
Administrative MeetingsISI Dublin Session News of Members In Memoriam ISI Committee Matters
ISI Committee on Risk Analysis
ISI Professional Ethics CommitteeISI Membership Elections 2008 Historical Anniversaries: William Gemmell Cochran Call for Contributed Papers for the XXVth International Methodology Symposium Memories of the ISI’s Past Calendar of Events News from ISI Sections Volume 33, No. 1 (97) 2009
Message from the President
I returned to the UK at the end of September, having spent six fascinating months based in Addis Ababa where I worked in the African Centre for Statistics (ACS), part of the UN Commission for Africa. It was a great honour for me to collaborate with African statisticians both in Addis and in several African countries that I visited during this period. Clearly the agenda is massive, but I was particularly struck by the enthusiasm and vigour with which the task is being tackled.
My host was Dr. Ben Kiregyera, Director of the ACS and winner of the Mahalanobis Prize for a lifetime achievement in statistics, from whom I learnt a great deal.
Back in England, I have taken up my new post as Head of the School of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s College London. Our School covers a wide spectrum of departments from Education to War Studies. We do not have a statistics department but many of my colleagues are involved in sophisticated quantitative analysis.
In October, I represented the ISI at the Shanghai Conference of the International Association of Official Statistics (IAOS) on the theme of “Smart Data, Innovative Uses – Reshaping Official Statistics” and at the IAOS Executive Board meeting. The local Chinese organisation was exemplary.
A few weeks later, I was invited to give the keynote address at the opening of an international conference hosted by Ras-Al-Khaimah (RAK) - one of the United Arab Emirates - on “The Impact of Information and Integrated Statistical Systems on Socio-Economical Development”. I was very privileged to sit next to the Crown Prince of RAK at the dinner he gave at his palace. He talked passionately about the need for his Emirate to build mathematical and statistical literacy among its population.
I took the opportunity while in the region to visit both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Dubai has expressed some interest in hosting a future ISI biennial congress. In Abu Dhabi, I spent a very fruitful day with the central statistical office, which has responsibility for official statistics for the whole of the United Arab Emirates.
In December, I was in Hong Kong on King’s College business but managed to meet with the Commissioner for Statistics and key senior staff to discuss progress on the ISI Congress that Hong Kong will be hosting in 2013.
Our discussions also dealt with the challenges facing official statisticians in the current climate of economic turmoil. Hong Kong colleagues are particularly keen to stimulate debate about this topic at our Durban Congress.
These visits were to three different parts of the world each of which has experienced unprecedented economic growth in recent years and I was struck by the demands this places on statistical systems.
Since the last Newsletter, I have twice visited the ISI Office in The Hague with the incoming President Jef Teugels. There has not been a face-to-face Executive meeting but we have recently had a teleconference, the main focus of which was the recruitment of a new Director. I hope to report on the outcome soon. Meanwhile, Wim Senden continues to perform this role.
In October, I was deeply saddened to learn of the untimely and sudden death of Michael Ward, who although retired from his last posting as Principal Economist at the World Bank continued to be very active in statistical affairs. His seminal work Quantifying the World tracks the UN statistical systems from the bold and idealistic days of its foundation through to today’s obsession with performance targets. Do read the obituary of Michael here.
Elsewhere in the Newsletter, you will find updates on the organisation of the Durban Conference. If you have not already registered, may I urge you strongly to do so as this promises be a most important and exciting congress in a wonderful location. In particular, can I draw attention to the fact that a programme of short courses and workshops will take place in advance of the Conference – further details are on http://www.statssa.gov.za/isi2009.
May I conclude with my very best wishes for a happy and rewarding 2009.
Denise Lievesley,
President ISI
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ISI Durban Session-
Building a link between the ISI and African Statisticians
The African region, it has been observed, has been very much under represented in the ISI in spite of the many distinguished Statisticians on the continent. The 57th Session and the first in sub-Saharan Africa, to be held in Durban, South Africa, provides, therefore, a good opportunity to examine this paradoxical problem and proffer solutions that could improve this undesirable situation.
The following issues have been identified for examination:
• Nominating suitable people to be ISI elected members;
• Improving the ISI’s coverage of NSOs in Africa through ex-officio representation;
• Suggesting names for the governance and other Committees of the ISI;
• Considering how to get as many African participants as possible to the Dublin Session;
• Easing the payment process for the ISI/Sections fees and subscriptions.To deal with these issues, an informal meeting is planned on Thursday, 20th of August at 11:15 hours (lunch break). I, therefore, invite all ISI members from Africa plus “Friends of Africa” ISI members to participate in the deliberation on these issues in order to determine actions to improve the situation. We hope the ISI President will also be able to join us at this meeting, so that we may benefit from their knowledge and experience to progress within the above-mentioned issues. Directors of African NSOs are especially invited to the meeting.
Anyone who is interested, please contact me. It would be especially welcome if you can include suggestions on how to encourage African Statisticians to play active roles in the ISI. Even if you are not able to attend, please feel free to send me your thoughts and suggestions in advance of the meeting.
O.O. Ajayi
ooajayi611@yahoo.comImportant Updates:
Please find here, the Scientific and Administrative Time Schedule and a list of Invited Paper MeetingsThe list of Short Courses for the 2009 ISI Session is available at
http://www.statssa.gov.za/isi2009/ShortCourses.aspx.Please visit the ISI Durban Session website for Information Bulletin I available in English and French:
http://www.statssa.gov.za/isi2009/welcome/news.aspx.
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Invited Paper Meetings for the 57th ISI Session, Durban, South Africa
(including Administrative Meetings)
PDF, last updated: 25 February 2009
ISI Dublin Session
Scientific Programme for 58th ISI Session – Dublin, August 2011
The Programme Coordinating Committee for the 58th ISI Session has begun planning and is seeking input from ISI and Section members.
We are seeking to make the Scientific Programme attractive, exciting and valuable for the statistical community. We will do this through the selection of topics for individual conference sessions and by identifying links among the sessions. It has already been agreed, for example, that there will be a Theme Day on the topic of “Water, Quantity and Quality”, which is of interest, in different ways, to each ISI Section. We are also considering other innovations to make the programme more attractive. We are particularly emphasising:
• Increasing communication and collaboration among specialists from different ISI Sections.
• Increasing the diversity of the meeting by ensuring that more leading roles (organizers and speakers) are taken by people from across the world, particularly developing countries, as well as by more female “early career” statisticians.
• Ensuring that each part of the ISI informs a wider audience than just specialists in selected topics.
• Engaging with the broader community to increase the influence of statistics on significant world, national and scientific issues.By the end of the 57th ISI Session in Durban in August, we will have finalised the broad structure of the 58th ISI Session and identified all topics for Invited Paper Meetings and the Organisers of them.
You are invited to provide suggestions for innovations to the Scientific Programme and topics for invited paper sessions to the Programme Coordinating Committee by sending them to murray.cameron@csiro.au.
Murray Cameron
Silvia Regina Costa Lopes
Co-Chairs, Programme Coordinating Committee
58th ISI Session, Dublin
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News of Members
At the International Biometric Conference in Dublin in July 2008, Professor Niels Keiding was created Honorary Life Member of the International Biometric Society. We would like to offer our congratulations to Professor Keiding, who is an ISI elected member, a Bernoulli Society member, a former ISI President (2005-2007) and currently an ISI Council member (2003-2009).
Professor Niels Keiding
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We regret to announce the deaths of the following members
Born Elected Deceased Professor Walter T. Federer 1915 1974 14 April 2008 Professor Jürgen P. Lehn 1941 1996 22 September 2008 Dr. Philippe J.G. Nasse 1939 1994 26 November 2008 Mr. Michael Ward 1939 1999 17 October 2008 Professor Jin-Shing Yao 1929 1989 12 December 2008
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In Memoriam
Professor Dr. Jürgen Lehn
Professor Dr. Jürgen Lehn passed away after a long illness on September 29th, 2008, at the age of 67. Professor Lehn was Professor of Mathematics, a leading researcher in Applied Probability and Statistics and an outstanding faculty member of Darmstadt Technical University, Germany, since 1980.
He received his bachelor's and master’s degree in Mathematics from the Technical University Karlsruhe in 1968 and a doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Regensburg in 1972. Prior to coming to Darmstadt Technical University, he served as a faculty member at the University of Marburg for a year.
Professor Jürgen Lehn supervised many PhD and master’s theses, and he was author of numerous articles and several books. He was also Editor of several journals and book series over many years. Some of the most important institutions of German scientific society are associated with the name of Professor Lehn: German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG) where he was a peer reviewer, German Mathematical Association (Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung - DMV) where he held various leading positions, Probability & Statistics Group (DMV - Fachgruppe Stochastik) and, especially, the Mathematical Science Institute of Oberwolfach (Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach) celebrated for its impact on international mathematics an area in which he was a leading scientist and treasurer.
A number of Professor Lehn’s students and colleagues, whom he supported, became internationally recognized scientists in the areas of Applied Probability and Statistics.Professor Lehn enjoyed great popularity among his students and coworkers. There are so many witnesses about his excellently prepared lectures and exercises, which he conducted with his assistants in such an exemplary way, and many young scientists not necessarily from his own working group to whom he paid attention with heartfelt empathy and offered help in developing new perspectives. Not to be forgotten, are his faithful visits and contributions to the “Departmental Seminars - Mathematisches Kolloquium” of his department.
His untimely death ended a brilliant and highly productive scientific career. His mind was fully engaged with research and teaching until he died. He kept contact with his graduate students even after he became gravely ill.
Professor Jürgen Lehn was such a great man indeed, a unique gentleman and an exceptional human being. His name will be remembered with love forever.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee of the
Conference on Recent Developments on
Applied Probability and Statistics:
Dr. Sevtap Kestel, University of FreiburgConference in Memory of Jürgen Lehn
The Middle East Technical University (METU) together with the Darmstadt Technical University are jointly organizing a conference on "Recent Developments in Applied Probability and Statistics" in memory of Professor Jürgen Lehn to be held in Ankara, Turkey. Jürgen Lehn was Professor of Mathematics, a leading researcher in Applied Probability and Statistics and an outstanding faculty member of the Darmstadt Technical University in Germany, since 1980. The workshop themes consist of a wide range of topics from the area of Applied Probability and Statistics. The workshop will host distinguished researchers as invited speakers and welcomes contributed participants from across the themes.Date: 23-24 April 2009
Place: METU, Ankara, Turkey, Cahit Arf Hall
Website: http://www3.iam.metu.edu.tr/juergenlehn/Top
Mr. Michael Ward
(1939-2008)
© Copyright 2009: The University of the South Pacific, FijiMichael Ward died of a heart attack in October 2008 at his home in Cambridge. He was 69 and leaves his wife Rosemary, a son and two daughters and six grandchildren. His death was a great loss to his many friends and colleagues throughout the world. It was also a great shock because right up to the end Michael was his usual busy self. He was Chair of the Program Committee for the Special IARIW Conference in Kathmandu; he was an invited paper meeting organizer for the 2009 ISI Session in Durban; he was finalizing details of a lecture tour in China and was working with the Indian statistical office on a project to improve their price statistics.
Michael went to school at St. Clement Dane’s in London. In 1958, he went to Exeter University where he earned a BA in Statistics and Economics and then to Cambridgefor an MA. He started work in 1961 in Salisbury (now Harare) in what was then the Statistical Office of the Federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland. He later worked in the statistical office of Lesotho and in the Fiji Islands where he was Head of the Government Statistical Service. The practical experience gained in these postings informed Michael’s subsequent work in developing social and economic indicators. Always imaginative in devising new statistical indicators and new ways of collecting them, he was nevertheless mindful of the real constraints facing statistical offices in the developing world.
During this time, Michael maintained his link with Cambridge and was a Fellow – later Dean – of Selwyn College and a Senior Researcher in the Department of Applied Economics. From 1972, Michael worked for UNESCO as a regional statistical advisor in Southern Africa – an assignment that took him to Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – but in 1975 he returned to the United Kingdom as Director of the Statistical Programme at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University. Both at Cambridge and Sussex, Michael worked with some of the foremost development economists of the time, including Richard Jolly, Graham Pyatt, Dudley Seers and Richard Stone. These were people who, as Michael observed in his book Quantifying the World1, “abhorred any suggestion that facts be fit to theory and spent their lives building theory around observed facts and creating frameworks that more usefully depicted how the real world worked”.
Michael's links with the OECD began in the early 1970’s. He participated in workshops on statistics in developing countries at the OECD Development Centre. In 1975, between the UNESCO assignments and the post at Sussex University, he worked for a few months as a consultant for the OECD on the measurement of capital. In 1982, Michael joined the OECD full-time and made the first OECD-Eurostat Purchasing Power Parity calculations for 1980.
In 1985, Michael took up his last full-time post as Principal Economist at the World Bank where he stayed until his retirement in 2000. Up to 1995, Michael’s main focus was Asia and the Pacific and, in addition to advisory missions to many countries in the region, he served for two years as Director of Rehabilitation and Economic Advisor in the UN Peacekeeping Mission to Cambodia. He recognized that a national statistical office gives a country a sense of identity and rebuilding the Cambodian statistical office after its near annihilation by the Khmer Rouge was one of his important achievements.
In 1995, Michael was made Head of the Bank’s Statistical Advisory Services and, in this capacity, he worked with Brian Hammond of the OECD’s Development Aid Committee in drawing up a set of international development targets that later became the Millennium Development Goals. These address a range of economic, social, demographic and environmental concerns, and Michael’s forty years of experience in statistical and economic policy work throughout the world made him a key player in identifying relevant and, above all, doable statistical indicators.
Michael’s retirement was a mere formality and from 2000 until his death in 2008 his expertise and advice were constantly sought by international agencies including the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank and the Association of South East Asian Nations, as well as by national statistical offices including those of China and India. The 2004 publication Quantifying the World, part of the UN’s Intellectual History Project, was one of his major achievements in this period. It reviewed the achievements and failures of the United Nation statistical services over the previous sixty years. Written in Michael’s inimitable style it combines intellectual rigor with engaging portraits of some of the major players and with well-directed barbs at his bêtes noires such as the “Washington Consensus” and the sometimes lethargic Statistical Commission of the United Nations.In 1999, he was awarded the ISI’s Henri Willem Methorst Medal for “outstanding contributions to international statistics”. A year later, he was elected as Chairperson of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth. He also served on the Statistical Advisory Panel of the Human Development Report and of the UN Group of Experts on Poverty Measurement.
While his intellectual contribution to the development of international statistics was great, his warm and generous personality was equally treasured by all who worked with him. In his letter of condolence, Peter Hill, who worked with Michael at the OECD, puts it very simply: “He was a good friend and colleague, courteous, generous, cheerful and kind”. Those are the qualities that so many will remember him for and are one of the reasons why he will be so missed at future meetings of the ISI.
Derek Blades
January 20091 "Quantifying the World. UN Ideas and Statistics” was written by Michael Ward as part of the United Nations Intellectual History Project Series edited by Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly and Thomas G. Weiss. Indiana University Press, 2004.
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ISI Committee Matters
ISI Committee on Risk Analysis (ISI-CRA)
Since the 56th Session of the ISI in Lisboa, the ISI-CRA has expanded both in membership and in range of themes, now also covering financial, adversarial and operational risk analysis topics. Major activities of the Committee have been:
• the expansion of the membership of ISI-CRA;
• the organization of an Invited Paper Meeting (IPM) on "Adversial Risk Analysis" during 57th Session of the ISI in Durban by David Banks, August 2009 (see below);
• the proposal of a Short Course on Risk Analysis to be held by David Banks during 57th Session of the ISI in Durban, August 2009;
• the participation in planning the Third International Conference on Cancer Risk Assessment (ICCRA3), July 16-18, 2009, Porto Heli, Greece.Additional activities were driven by the personal engagement of the Committee members. Lutz Edler organized an IPM on "Model-based Risk Assessment in Life Science" jointly with the IASC at the Interface 2008 "Risk Analysis in Today's World"; Durham, NC, USA, May 22-24, 2008. Daniel de Waal is arranging a two-day workshop on Risk Analysis and Losses in Finance, Energy Fuels and Weather in March 2009 in South Africa. Christos P. Kitsos is organizing the Third International Conference on Cancer Risk Assessment in Porto Heli as mentioned earlier.
After the ISI Session in Lisboa, ISI-CRA decided to widen the Committee both in terms of members as well as themes. On one hand, each major region (i.e. North America, Asia, Europe, Pacific Area and the transitional areas of the Middle East, Africa, etc.) should be represented by a sufficient number of members. On the other hand, it was thought necessary to strengthen the work internationally as well as regionally by pursuing new projects. ISI-CRA, therefore, aims to extend its scope from the field of health and environmental risk assessment to a wider area of risk analysis comprising physical, meteorological, economical and financial and societal risks. The Committee has extended its membership and will seek contact with ISI Sections interested in statistical methods for risk analysis in order to undertake joint activities. ISI-CRA is currently discussing its business plan for the next biennial work period.
At present, the ISI-CRA has 21 members (Africa 1; North America 7; Asia 5; Europe 8).
During the second half of 2008, the Committee discussed with ISI President Denise Lievesley and incoming ISI President Jef Teugels the status and further development of the Committee. In order to harmonise with the ISI, it was decided to rename the ISI Risk Analysis Committee as the ISI Committee on Risk Analysis (ISI-CRA).
ISI-CRA will prepare an Internet presentation developed and maintained by ISI-CRA member Harald Heinzl (Vienna), www.meduniwien.ac.at/isi-cra mirrored on the ISI website http://isi.cbs.nl, which is now available.
ISI-CRA at the 57th Session in Durban: IPM on "Adversial Risk Analysis", Organiser: David Banks, with presentations by:
• David Rios-Insua and Jesus Rios, University Rey Juan Carlos, Spain: "Adversarial Risk Analysis, Influence Diagrams, and Auctions";
• David Banks, Duke University, USA (co-author: Bernard Harris, U. of Wisconsin-Madison): "Adversarial Risk Analysis in Counterterrorism";
• Nozer Singpurwalla, the George Washington University, USA: "A Framework for Adversarial Risk Analysis".Discussants are Mehmet Sahinoglu (USA) and Lutz Edler (Germany).
Lutz Edler
Chair, ISI Committee on Risk Analysis
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ISI Professional Ethics Committee
The ISI Professional Ethics Committee has been involved in a number of activities during 2008. There have been changes to the Declaration on Professional Ethics, both in content and form, and to the website. In planning for the 2009 meetings, three ISI members, with extensive experience in the issue of ethics in the statistics profession, have agreed to conduct a one-day course. Two sessions are being organized for the 2009 meetings.
At the 2007 Open Meeting on the ISI Professional Ethics Declaration, the Committee received feedback on the organization of the Declaration, particularly around the use of ‘Responsibilities’ to organize the principles. The Committee undertook to reflect these suggestions by making changes in both the content and the format of the website. The proposed revision can be found at https://www.isi-web.org/404?ethics0index.htm. The website now begins with a single page, listing sixteen principles, no longer grouped by ‘Responsibility’. This first page also contains direct links to commentary on the principles, to listings of ethical principles of other related organizations and to an updated bibliography. The individual principles link to a page containing the complete statement of the principle. These statements are linked to expanded commentary putting the principle in context.
William Seltzer, Senior Research Scholar at Fordham University, Roger Jowell, Research Professor at the City University London, and Norbert Victor, Professor at the University of Heidelberg, have agreed to collaborate on a one-day course in Ethics to be offered just prior to the start of the 2009 Meetings in South Africa. The course will include a general discussion of ethics and issues of importance to the statistics profession, as well as a discussion of issues associated with human rights and with ethical concerns related to biostatistics.
There are two sessions being organized for the 2009 Meetings on ethical issues. Olav Ljones, President of the IAOS, is organizing an invited paper session, IPM 94, on the topic "Do New Trends in Official Statistics, more Administrative Data and Use, with Governmental Guarantee for Independence Present New Ethical Dilemmas?" William Seltzer is organizing a Special Topic Contributed Paper Meeting "Some Current Ethical Issues in Official Statistics". Among other issues, there is expected to be at least one paper discussing ethical concerns stemming from communications with official statisticians in Argentina.
In addition, the Committee discussed a communication received during the year from an Argentinean that alleged government interference in the professional decisions of official statisticians. Members of the Committee who were present at the IAOS Conference held in Shanghai discussed these allegations. The Committee drafted a letter in response, raising concerns and pointing out that the allegations raised ethical concerns. The letter was offered to the ISI President for her use.
David Morganstein
Chair, ISI Professional Ethics Committee
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ISI Membership Elections 2008
We would like to congratulate the 28 new ISI members, who were elected in the second round of the 2008 ISI membership elections. For those who wish to contact any of these individuals, please note that the ISI website includes the names and addresses of all ISI members (see https://www.isi-web.org/404?isimembers/isimembers.htm), and these new members will be added to this list shortly.
Elected Membership
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Historical Anniversaries: William Gemmell Cochran
William G. Cochran
William Gemmell Cochran was born in Rutherglen, Scotland, on July 15th, 1909. From quite a modest family (his father was a railway employee), he participated in the University of Glasgow Bursary Competition in 1927 and he placed first. After Glasgow, he entered Cambridge University where he studied mathematics, applied mathematics and statistics with John Wishart. He also took a practical course at the School of Agriculture.
In 1934, Frank Yates succeeded Ronald Fisher as Head of Statistics at Rothamsted Experimental Station appointed Cochran as his assistant. While working at Rothamsted, Cochran attended lectures by Fisher at University College London.
His first paper was devoted to a problem of fluid dynamics, followed by the well-known “Cochran’s Theorem” published in 1934 in the Proceedings of Cambridge Philosophical Society under the title “The distribution of quadratic forms in a normal system”. During his six years in Rothamsted, Cochran wrote many papers on topics that interested him, namely on experimental designs and sample surveys. He married Betty I.M. Mitchell, with whom he had three children.
In 1938, Cochran visited Ames, Iowa, where he accepted a position a year later. During World War II, 1943-44, he worked with the Statistical Research Group of Princeton headed by Samuel S. Wilks. In 1946, Gertrude Cox organized the Institute of Statistics in North Carolina and persuaded Cochran to head the Graduate Program in Experimental Design at Raleigh, while Harold Hotelling headed the Mathematical Statistics Program at Chapel Hill. In 1949, Cochran moved to Johns Hopkins University where he chaired the Department of Biostatistics in the School of Hygiene and Public Health. Eight years later, he moved to Harvard where he remained until his retirement in 1976.
During the period after the War, Cochran wrote two books that have been used by many statisticians. The first one, written with Gertrude Cox, concerns Experimental Designs and was published in 1950. The second, devoted to Sampling Techniques, was published in 1953. In 1967, he also revised Snedecor’s Statistical Methods (sixth edition).
His personal qualities and his scientific ability led Cochran to participate in many committees. He served as President of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 1946, the American Statistical Association in 1953, the Biometric Society from 1954 to 1955, and the International Statistical Institute from 1967 to 1971. He was also a member of many other committees (including the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, the Committee on Epidemiology and Biometry at National Institutes of Health, Advisory Committee to the Bureau of Census). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Science. He was also a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and was awarded various Medals as well as honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Glasgow and Johns Hopkins University.
William Gemmell Cochran died in Orleans, Massachusetts, on March 29th, 1980. He was held in highest regard for both personal and professional achievements. As noted by Frederick Mosteller in his foreword to the Contributions to Statistics published in 1982 in honour of Cochran, he epitomized the maxim “I never met a man I didn’t like”.
Jean-Jacques Droesbeke
Chairman
Christiaan Huygens Committee on the History of StatisticsPlease refer to the ISI Newsletter (Volume 29, Number 3, 87, 2005) for a previous article on W.G. Cochran commemorating the 25th anniversary of his death.
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Correction Note: In the Historical Anniversaries item: Student's t-test, ISI Newsletter Vol. 32, Number 2 (95) 2008, p. 21, "Egon Sharpe Pearson (1885-1980)" should read "Egon Sharpe Pearson (1895-1980)". The error in the year of birth occurs in C.C. Heyde and E. Seneta (eds.) (2001) "Statisticians of the Centuries", p. 373.Eugene Seneta
Call for Contributed Papers for the XXVth International Methodology Symposium of Statistics Canada
October 27-30, 2009: Longitudinal Surveys: from Design to Analysis, Gatineau, QC, CanadaAnyone interested in statistical or methodological issues specific to longitudinal survey are invited to contribute papers and to attend this anniversary symposium. The organizing committee is soliciting papers related to methodological aspects of the field. The closing date is March 31, 2009. For more information, contact symposium2009@statcan.ca or visit the website http://www.statcan.gc.ca/conferences/symposium2009/index-eng.htm.
For the entire article on this Symposium, please download the PDF
.
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Memories of the ISI’s Past
Sir Edwin Chadwick
Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) was an English social reformer, noted for his contribution to reforming the Poor Laws; the report was published in 1834 under the leadership of Prime Minister Earl Grey. After the influenza and typhoid epidemics in 1837 and 1838, Chadwick was asked by the government to carry out a new enquiry on sanitation. In 1842, his report The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population was published and showed disease was directly related to living conditions, thus proving a desperate need for public health reform. On 24th June 1885, Chadwick became the first ISI Honorary Member.
Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Joseph Liagre
Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Joseph Liagre (1815-1891) was Belgium’s Minister of War from 1879-1880. He started his service in the army and built his academic career at the Royal Military Academy of which he became Commander in 1870 and General in 1874. Liagre was a specialist in calculation of probability and error theory, using the latter towards a Belgian geodetic network. On 24th June 1885, Liagre became the second ISI Honorary Member.
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News from ISI Sections Volume 33, No. 1 (97) 2009
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