Fresh Perspective

Abstract

History provides a fascinating glimpse into human behavior, who the key players were, what they did, and how their activities affected society at large. The history of statistics also has an extra dimension: It provides documented insight into how new and useful statistical ideas are generated. Histories are lost as the cultural zeitgeist changes and collective memory decays. This column will bring back a few of these lost stories of individuals who have been more or less forgotten, but whose ideas have had a profound influence on the daily lives of thousands, if not millions, of people. And of course, the way we practice statistics today. The History Chronicles is a new feature edited by Penelope Susan "Pen" Reynolds and Chaitra Nagaraja.