Egon Pearson

Egon Pearson
CBE FRS
Egon Pearson CBE FRS
Born	Egon Sharpe Pearson; 11 August 1895; Hampstead, London, England
Died	12 June 1980 (aged 84); Midhurst, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Known for	Neyman–Pearson lemma
Spouses	Dorothy Eileen Jolly; Margaret Theodisia Scott;
Children	Judith Pearson; Sarah Pearson;
Parents	Karl Pearson (father); Maria Sharpe (mother);
Awards	Weldon Memorial Prize (1935); Guy Medal (Gold, 1955)
	Scientific career
Fields	Statistics
Institutions	University College London
Doctoral students	George E. P. Box; Bhaskar Kumar Ghosh; Pao-Lu Hsu; Norman Lloyd Johnson

Egon Sharpe Pearson CBE FRS^[1] (11 August 1895 – 12 June 1980) was one of three children of Karl Pearson and Maria, née Sharpe, and, like his father, a British statistician.^[2]^[3]

Career[edit]

Pearson was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge, and succeeded his father as professor of statistics at University College London and as editor of the journal Biometrika. He is best known for development of the Neyman–Pearson lemma of statistical hypothesis testing. He was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 1948.^[4]

Pearson was President of the Royal Statistical Society in 1955–56,^[5] and was awarded its Guy Medal in gold in 1955. He was appointed a CBE in 1946.

Pearson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1966.^[6] His candidacy citation read:

Known throughout the world as co-author of the Neyman–Pearson theory of testing statistical hypotheses, and responsible for many important contributions to problems of statistical inference and methodology, especially in the development and use of the likelihood ratio criterion. Has played a leading role in furthering the applications of statistical methods — for example, in industry, and also during and since the war, in the assessment and testing of weapons.^[6]

Family life[edit]

Pearson married Eileen Jolly in 1934 and the couple had two daughters, Judith and Sarah. Eileen died of pneumonia in 1949. Pearson subsequently married Margaret Theodosia Scott in 1967 and the couple lived in Cambridge until Margaret's death in 1975. Pearson moved to West Lavington in Sussex and lived there until his death in 1980.^[3]

Works[edit]

On the Use and Interpretation of certain Test Criteria for the Purposes of Statistical Inference (coauthor Jerzy Neyman in Biometrika, 1928)
The History of statistics in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries (1929). Commented version of a series of conference by his father.
On the Problem of the Most Efficient Tests of Statistical Hypotheses (coauthor Jerzy Neyman, 1933)
The Application of Statistical Methods to Industrial Standardisation and Quality Control. London: British Standards Institution, Publication Department. 1935.^[7]
Karl Pearson : an appreciation of some aspects of his life and work (1938)
The Selected Papers of E. S. Pearson. Cambridge University Press. 1966.
Studies in the history of statistics and probability (1969, coauthor Maurice George Kendall)

Collections[edit]

University College London holds the archive of Pearson, which was acquired in four separate accessions between 1980 and 2013.^[8] The collection includes material relating to Pearson's professional life such as lecture notes, draft publications, correspondence and papers relating to the Biometrika journal.^[8]

References[edit]

^ Bartlett, M. S. (1981). "Egon Sharpe Pearson. 11 August 1895-12 June 1980". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 27: 425–426. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1981.0017. JSTOR 769879.
^ Egon Pearson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Egon Pearson", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
^ "Election of Fellows, 1948". Econometrica. 17 (1): 86. January 1949. JSTOR 1912138.
^ "Royal Statistical Society Presidents". Royal Statistical Society. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007" (PDF). London: The Royal Society. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
^ Rietz, H. L. (1936). "Review: The Application of Statistical Methods to Industrial Standardisation and Quality Control by E. S. Pearson" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 42 (9): 617–618. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1936-06365-2.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b UCL Special Collections. "Egon Sharpe Pearson Papers". UCL Archives Catalogue. Retrieved 15 May 2024.

External links[edit]

Egon Sharpe Pearson Papers held at University College London
Obituary by Herbert A. David (retrieved 1 August 2017)
Obituary by J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson (retrieved 1 August 2017)

[frs-1] Bartlett, M. S. (1981). "Egon Sharpe Pearson. 11 August 1895-12 June 1980". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 27: 425–426. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1981.0017. JSTOR 769879.

[mathgene-2] Egon Pearson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

[mactutor-3] Jump up to: ^a ^b O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Egon Pearson", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews

[4] "Election of Fellows, 1948". Econometrica. 17 (1): 86. January 1949. JSTOR 1912138.

[5] "Royal Statistical Society Presidents". Royal Statistical Society. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2010.

[royalsociety-6] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007" (PDF). London: The Royal Society. Retrieved 1 May 2011.

[7] Rietz, H. L. (1936). "Review: The Application of Statistical Methods to Industrial Standardisation and Quality Control by E. S. Pearson" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 42 (9): 617–618. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1936-06365-2.

[:0-8] Jump up to: ^a ^b UCL Special Collections. "Egon Sharpe Pearson Papers". UCL Archives Catalogue. Retrieved 15 May 2024.

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v t e Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
Category List

v t e Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1966
Fellows	Alan R. Battersby Brooke Benjamin Kenneth Budden Robert Ernest Davies Richard Doll Sam Edwards John Samuel Forrest Francis Charles Fraser Harry Harris Donald O. Hebb Kenneth Hutchison Alick Isaacs Basil Kassanis Ralph Kekwick Percy Edward Kent Desmond King-Hele Francis Knowles Georg Kreisel Cyril Lucas James Dwyer McGee James Menter Arthur Mourant Egon Pearson Donald Hill Perkins Mary Pickford Heinz Otto Schild Herbert Muggleton Stanley Bruce Stocker John Sutton Michael Szwarc David Whiffen Fred White
Statute 12	Louis Mountbatten
Foreign	Jean Brachet Haldan Keffer Hartline Louis Néel André Weil

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