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statistician who followed Francis Galton in introducing statistics and probability
into genetics and who developed the concept of eugenics (improving the human
race by selective breeding). He introduced the term standard deviation into
statistics. Pearson introduced in 1900 the 2 (chi-squared) test to determine whether a set of observed data deviates significantly from what would have been predicted by a 'null hypothesis' (that is, totally at random). He demonstrated that it could be applied to examine whether two hereditary characteristics (such as height and hair colour) were inherited independently. Pearson was born in London and studied at Cambridge, where he persuaded the authorities to abolish the mandatory classes in Christianity for undergraduates. In 1884 he became professor of mathematics at University College, London; from 1911 he was professor of eugenics at London University. In order to publish work on statistics as applied to biological subjects, he founded 1901 the journal Biometrika, which he edited until his death. Pearson's discoveries included the Pearson coefficient of correlation (1892), the theory of multiple and partial correlation (1896), the coefficient of variation (1898), work on errors of judgement (1902), and the theory of random walk (1905). Pearson's Biometrika for 1901 is a book of tables of the ordinates, integrals, and other properties of Pearson's curves. |