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Mahalanobis & Fisher: Mathematical Statistics as a Global Enterprise

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Abstract

In celebration of the 125th Anniversary of Mahalanobis’s birth, three stories are told: of his second publication in 1923, of a rough patch in his early relationship with Fisher in 1930, and of the remarkable 1938 Conference and Lectures that established Indian statistics on the world stage. The three are related to the three major areas of his accomplishments: economic planning, statistical research, and building of institutions.

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Acknowledgements

The quotations from the Mahalanobis-Fisher correspondence come with the permission of Henry Bennett from the Fisher Archive at Adelaide University. My thanks to Probal Chaudhuri for pointing me to Mahalanobis’s memoirs Mahalanobis (1949, 1964).

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Correspondence to Stephen M. Stigler.

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An Address on the 125th anniversary of PCM’s birth

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Stigler, S.M. Mahalanobis & Fisher: Mathematical Statistics as a Global Enterprise. Sankhya B 80 (Suppl 1), 167–178 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13571-018-0168-z

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