Skip to main content

Statistical Developments in World War II: An International Perspective

  • Conference paper

Abstract

The impact of World War II on the practice and theory of statistics was substantial. Major new statistical developments occurred as part of the wartime activities, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States. The paper provides some background to these developments and serves as an introduction to a longer and more detailed description by Barnard and Plackett on Statistics in the United Kingdom, 1939–45.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Anderson, R. L. (1982). “My experience as a statistician: From the farm to the university.” In J. Gani (ed.) The Making of Statisticians, New York: Springer, 130–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnard, G. A. and Plackett, R. L. (1985). “Statistics in the United Kingdom, 1939–45.” In this volume, Chapter 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Box, J. F. (1978). R. A. Fisher, The Life of a Scientist. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harshbarger, B. (1976). “History of early developments of modern statistics in America (1920–1944).” In D. B. Owen (ed.) On the History of Statistics and Probability. New York: Marcel Dekker, 133–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoeffding, W. (1982). “A statistician’s progress from Berlin to Chapel Hill.” In J. Gani (ed.), The Making of Statisticians. New York: Springer, 100–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, M. G. (1978). “Statistics: The history of statistical method.” In Wm. H. Kruskal and J. M. Tanur (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Statistics, 2. New York: Free Press, 1093–1101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruskal, Wm. H. (1980). “Comment: First interactions with Harold Hotelling; testing the Norden bombsight.” J. Amer. Statist. Assoc., 75, 331–333.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, H. O. (1982). “From medicine through medical to mathematical statistics: Autobiographical notes.” In J. Gani (ed.) The Making of Statisticians. New York: Springer, 236–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangel, M. and Samaniego, F.J. (1984). “Abraham Wald’s work on aircraft survivability (with discussion).” J. Amer. Statist. Assoc., 79, 259–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, J. W. (1960). A History of the International Statistical Institute, 1885–1960. The Hague: International Statistical Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitman, E. J. G. (1982). “Reminiscences of a mathematician who strayed into statistics.” In J. Gani (ed.) The Making of Statisticians. New York: Springer, 112–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, C. (1982). Neyman—from Life. New York: Springer.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Stouffer, S. A. et al. (1949). The American Soldier. Studies in Social Psychology in World War II. Vol. 1 and 2. Princeton U. P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis, W. A. (1980). “The Statistical Research Group, 1942–1945 (with discussion).” J. Amer. Statist. Assoc., 75, 320–335.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Wold, H. (1982). “Models for knowledge.” In J. Gani (ed.), The Making of Statisticians. New York: Springer, 190–212.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1985 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

About this paper

Cite this paper

Fienberg, S.E. (1985). Statistical Developments in World War II: An International Perspective. In: Atkinson, A.C., Fienberg, S.E. (eds) A Celebration of Statistics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8560-8_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8560-8_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8562-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-8560-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics