Frederick Mosteller

Charles Frederick Mosteller (born December 24, 1916 in Clarksburg , West Virginia , † July 23, 2006 in Falls Church ) was one of the most important statisticians of the 20th century. He was the founding director of the Statistics Department at Harvard University from 1957 to 1969.

Life

Mosteller was president of several major scientific associations, including the Psychometric Society, the American Statistical Association , the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Statistical Institute. In 1954 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1961 to the American Philosophical Society and 1974 to the National Academy of Sciences .

Mosteller received honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago (1973), Carnegie Mellon University (1974), Yale University (1981), Wesleyan University (1983) and Harvard University (1993). He was also an honorary member of the Royal Statistical Society .

He responded to the critics of statistics with the saying: "It is easy to lie with statistics, but easier to lie without them!"

In his private time he dealt with the art of magic and published several articles in magic magazines specifically on magic with playing cards.

Robert Ray Bush, Frederick Mosteller: Stochastic Models for Learning. Wiley, New York 1955

Donald J. Albers, GL Alexanderson, Constance Reid More Mathematical People - Contemporary Conversations , Academic Press 1994

personal data
SURNAME	Mosteller, Frederick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mosteller, Charles Frederick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American statistician
DATE OF BIRTH	December 24, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH	Clarksburg, West Virginia
DATE OF DEATH	July 23, 2006
Place of death	Falls Church