Abstract
First, I discussed the concept of Couples in Science or Couples in Statistics as well as the concept of Couples of Scientists. And statistics means the field between statistics as the science of the state and economic statistics as well as mathematical statistics. In the history of science the concept of Couples in Science was developed first by Helena M. Pycior, Nancy G. Slack, and Pnina G. Abir-Am (see Pycior et al. (1996)), 16 years later another volume was published (see Lykknes et al. (2012)). Inspired by the two volumes, I’m giving my “definition” of Couples in Science. The significant element is the fact that both are working and publishing together, that they are collaborating and publishing together. Second, I described important aspects of the life and work of Emma S. (1893–1968) and Wladimir S. Woytinsky (1885–1960) (also Vojtinskij). Both were socialists, political activists, and Russian Jews. They had to live in exile from 1920 onwards, first in Germany, then in France and Switzerland, from 1935 on in the USA, mostly in Washington, D. C. They were unusual statisticians because of the lack of continuous academic training in this field before 1924. In Berlin they were working closely together but the result of this collaboration, the seven volumes “Die Welt in Zahlen” (The World in Figures, Woytinsky (1925–1928)) was published under his name only. Between 1947 and 1959 another period of close collaboration on statistics followed. Now they were working together and publishing together. They did famous and highly acknowledged work compiling large data collections on statistics on world population and production, and on world commerce and trade (Woytinsky and Woytinsky 1953, 1955). Third, I investigated their practices as statisticians, their collaboration, and the division of labor in their work in the 1920s as well as in the 1950 s. In contrast to the years in Berlin now they were working together and publishing together. Finally, I analyzed and compared the different circumstances and their working conditions in Berlin and in Washington D. C., and I discussed why Emma S. and Wladimir S. Woytinsky were so unusual—as a couple and as a couple in statistics.
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Notes
- 1.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 110.
- 2.
- 3.
Kiser (1955), p. 203.
- 4.
See Pycior et al. (1996).
- 5.
See Lykknes et al. (2012).
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
See Vogt (2007).
- 9.
- 10.
See Lin et al. (2014).
- 11.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 1.
- 12.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 152.
- 13.
See the date of birth on her identity card in Germany (1932) and France (1934). In: Archive IISH Amsterdam, Vojtinskij Papers, no. 30.
- 14.
See Minc and Nenarokov (1982), pp. 81–124, esp. p. 116.
- 15.
See Kochina (1988), pp. 45–47.
- 16.
See the entry about the marriage in the special passport (Verbanntenpass) of the exiled Wladimir Woytinsky, in: Archive IISH Amsterdam, Vojtinskij Papers., no. 30.
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
Woytinsky, W. S. (1961), p. 453.
- 20.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 108.
- 21.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 109).
- 22.
- 23.
Quot. in Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 114.
- 24.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 114.
- 25.
See Woytinsky, E. S. (1929).
- 26.
Woytinsky, W. S. (1961), p. 461.
- 27.
- 28.
See https://lsa.umich.edu/…/wladimir-s--and-emma-s--woytinsky-fellowship-fund.html. It is the website of the Wladimir S. and Emma S. Woytinsky Fellowship Fund at the University of Michigan (accessed May 13, 2019).
- 29.
See Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 187 and p. 188.
- 30.
See Woytinsky, E. S. (1962), pp. 229–272.
- 31.
See the homepage of the University of Michigan, the Wladimir S. and Emma S. Woytinsky Fellowship Fund, https://lsa.umich.edu/…/wladimir-s--and-emma-s--woytinsky-fellowship-fund.html (accessed May 13, 2019).
- 32.
See the homepage of the University of Michigan, W. S. Woytinsky Lectures https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/alumni-friends/w-s--woytinsky-lecture.html (accessed May 13, 2019). In 2019 Esther Duflo (b. 1972) received the Nobel Prize in Economics, together with her husband and colleague Abhijit Banerjee (b. 1961) and Michael Kremer (b. 1964).
- 33.
See Woytinsky, E. S. (1967).
- 34.
See the obituaries in New York Times, 15.4.1987, and in The Washington Post, 15.4.1987.
- 35.
See for example the obituary in: Iowa City Press, 15.4.1968.
- 36.
- 37.
Woytinsky, W. S. (1961), p. 452.
- 38.
See Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 139.
- 39.
- 40.
Woytinsky, W. S. (1961), p. 453.
- 41.
Woytinsky, W. S. (1954), p. 18 (emphasis original).
- 42.
Woytinsky, W. S. (1961), p. 519.
- 43.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 189.
- 44.
Woytinsky, E. S. (1965), p. 114.
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University Uppsala, Dept. of Manuscripts and Music, Uppsala University Library, L. von Bortkiewicz Papers (41 boxes, there is no material of or about the Woytinskys).
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Vogt, A.B. (2020). Emma S. and Wladimir S. Woytinsky: An Unusual Couple in Statistics. In: Kaufholz-Soldat, E., Oswald, N. (eds) Against All Odds. Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47610-6_5
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