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Jerzy Neyman, the last of the great founders of modern statistics, died after a brief illness on August 5, 1981, at the age of 87. He worked actively in his science to the end.
Neyman was born in Bendery, Russia, on April 16, 1894. His ancestors were Polish, but Poland did not exist as a separate country at the time of his birth. His family had lived in Russia proper for several generations, but Neyman considered himself a Pole.
He grew up in the Crimea and the Ukraine and graduated from the University of Kharkov in 1917. Soon thereafter, following the Bolshevik educational reform act, he was assigned to go from place to place teaching preparatory classes for workers and peasants who wanted to enter the university. Classrooms were unlighted and unheated, the rag to wipe the blackboard often froze in its bucket, and his pay consisted of small amounts of butter, sugar, potatoes, and other staples. On various occasions he was in prison, once for six weeks, because he was Polish. His life in Russia ended with his emigration to Poland in 1921 at the age of 27 as part of an exchange of nationals under the Treaty of Riga.
Neyman spent most of 1921-1934 in Poland, studying, lecturing, and doing research in statistics. His Ph.D. thesis in 1924 (University of Warsaw) was on applications of probability to agricultural experiments. A decisive event was his visit to University College, London, to study with Karl Pearson. Here he met Egon Pearson, with whom he founded the modern theory of hypothesis testing.
A crucial turning point in Neyman's career was a six-week American tour in 1937, during which he lectured at a number of universities and participated in a week of lectures and conferences at the Graduate School of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His American period, which fell one year short of spanning half his life, began the following year when he accepted an invitation from Griffith C. Evans to create a statistical center at Berkeley within the mathematics department. In 1939 he founded the Berkeley Statistical Laboratory.
The responsibilities of the Laboratory as a consulting service for other departments of the University and the almost immediate outbreak of the Second World War (which involved the Laboratory in intensive bombing research) diverted Neyman from fundamental theory. Increasingly he saw applications as a fascinating source of interesting and delicate problems. Most of Neyman's research at Berkeley was on scientific problems, in areas ranging from cosmology to public health. He had a persistent interest in the possibility of weather modification, and at the time of his death was writing a monograph on the subject.
Research was only part of Neyman's effort on behalf of statistics. He was a teacher in the Socratic tradition, and personally supervised more than 50 Ph.D. students. A great organizer, he delighted in bringing people together in social-scientific situations. Under his active, driving leadership, statistics at Berkeley developed from a one-man operation in 1938 to a separate leading department in 1955. In 1945, to mark the return to peacetime research, he organized a symposium at Berkeley on mathematical statistics and probability. Five other symposia, of increasing size and international participation, followed at five-year intervals. When almost 80, he proposed and organized The Heritage of Copernicus, a volume of essays on quasi-Copernican revolutions, which was published by the National Academy of Sciences to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great Polish astronomer.
In 1961, at the age of 67, Neyman became officially emeritus. The University immediately recalled him to active duty as Professor and Director of the Statistical Laboratory, and he continued as such, without a break, until his death. During this period, from 1961 to 1981, he carried more than a full-time load of teaching and administration, and almost doubled the number of items in his already extensive bibliography. He also became increasingly involved in the Civil Rights movement, raising a considerable amount of money for Martin Luther King, Jr., and being instrumental in the establishment at Berkeley of a Special Scholarships program. The present Professional Development Program and its associated Senate Committee on Special Scholarships are a direct result of Neyman's work.
Neyman was the recipient of many honors. The most notable of these was the Medal of Science which he was awarded in 1968 for "laying the foundations of modern statistics and devising tests and procedures that have become essential parts of knowledge of every statistician." His personal code of behavior can best be expressed by the word "appropriate," which he so often used. It was "appropriate" to fight injustice, to assist the underdog, to "stand up and be counted" on the issues of the day, to give credit and praise where it was due, especially to the young, and to try to conduct oneself with dignity in controversy.
People and work were necessities to him. His best work was done when he was "emotionally involved" with people as well as with subject matter. The people could be students, fellow statisticians, scientists in other fields, or even worthy opponents. He cared deeply about his students and their problems, personal as well as professional, and he was incorrigibly generous. He would try to draw students and colleagues into a kind of family situation where his role was that of a wise father, able to arrange things so they would turn out as they should for everybody.
In the hospital during his last days, the sign on the door of his room said "family members only." The hospital staff must have been amazed at the size of the family who came to say goodby to Jerzy Neyman.
It is fortunate that Constance Reid, author of mathematical biographies of Hilbert and Courant, became interested in Neyman's life and influence and spent many hours interviewing him during his last years. Her book, Neyman--From Life, based on these interviews and on his personal papers, was published in 1982 by Springer-Verlag.
David Blackwell
Lucien Le Cam
Erich L. Lehman
H. Lewy
Elizabeth L. Scott
Neyman was born in Bendery, Russia, on April 16, 1894. His ancestors were Polish, but Poland did not exist as a separate country at the time of his birth. His family had lived in Russia proper for several generations, but Neyman considered himself a Pole.
He grew up in the Crimea and the Ukraine and graduated from the University of Kharkov in 1917. Soon thereafter, following the Bolshevik educational reform act, he was assigned to go from place to place teaching preparatory classes for workers and peasants who wanted to enter the university. Classrooms were unlighted and unheated, the rag to wipe the blackboard often froze in its bucket, and his pay consisted of small amounts of butter, sugar, potatoes, and other staples. On various occasions he was in prison, once for six weeks, because he was Polish. His life in Russia ended with his emigration to Poland in 1921 at the age of 27 as part of an exchange of nationals under the Treaty of Riga.
Neyman spent most of 1921-1934 in Poland, studying, lecturing, and doing research in statistics. His Ph.D. thesis in 1924 (University of Warsaw) was on applications of probability to agricultural experiments. A decisive event was his visit to University College, London, to study with Karl Pearson. Here he met Egon Pearson, with whom he founded the modern theory of hypothesis testing.
A crucial turning point in Neyman's career was a six-week American tour in 1937, during which he lectured at a number of universities and participated in a week of lectures and conferences at the Graduate School of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His American period, which fell one year short of spanning half his life, began the following year when he accepted an invitation from Griffith C. Evans to create a statistical center at Berkeley within the mathematics department. In 1939 he founded the Berkeley Statistical Laboratory.
The responsibilities of the Laboratory as a consulting service for other departments of the University and the almost immediate outbreak of the Second World War (which involved the Laboratory in intensive bombing research) diverted Neyman from fundamental theory. Increasingly he saw applications as a fascinating source of interesting and delicate problems. Most of Neyman's research at Berkeley was on scientific problems, in areas ranging from cosmology to public health. He had a persistent interest in the possibility of weather modification, and at the time of his death was writing a monograph on the subject.
Research was only part of Neyman's effort on behalf of statistics. He was a teacher in the Socratic tradition, and personally supervised more than 50 Ph.D. students. A great organizer, he delighted in bringing people together in social-scientific situations. Under his active, driving leadership, statistics at Berkeley developed from a one-man operation in 1938 to a separate leading department in 1955. In 1945, to mark the return to peacetime research, he organized a symposium at Berkeley on mathematical statistics and probability. Five other symposia, of increasing size and international participation, followed at five-year intervals. When almost 80, he proposed and organized The Heritage of Copernicus, a volume of essays on quasi-Copernican revolutions, which was published by the National Academy of Sciences to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great Polish astronomer.
In 1961, at the age of 67, Neyman became officially emeritus. The University immediately recalled him to active duty as Professor and Director of the Statistical Laboratory, and he continued as such, without a break, until his death. During this period, from 1961 to 1981, he carried more than a full-time load of teaching and administration, and almost doubled the number of items in his already extensive bibliography. He also became increasingly involved in the Civil Rights movement, raising a considerable amount of money for Martin Luther King, Jr., and being instrumental in the establishment at Berkeley of a Special Scholarships program. The present Professional Development Program and its associated Senate Committee on Special Scholarships are a direct result of Neyman's work.
Neyman was the recipient of many honors. The most notable of these was the Medal of Science which he was awarded in 1968 for "laying the foundations of modern statistics and devising tests and procedures that have become essential parts of knowledge of every statistician." His personal code of behavior can best be expressed by the word "appropriate," which he so often used. It was "appropriate" to fight injustice, to assist the underdog, to "stand up and be counted" on the issues of the day, to give credit and praise where it was due, especially to the young, and to try to conduct oneself with dignity in controversy.
People and work were necessities to him. His best work was done when he was "emotionally involved" with people as well as with subject matter. The people could be students, fellow statisticians, scientists in other fields, or even worthy opponents. He cared deeply about his students and their problems, personal as well as professional, and he was incorrigibly generous. He would try to draw students and colleagues into a kind of family situation where his role was that of a wise father, able to arrange things so they would turn out as they should for everybody.
In the hospital during his last days, the sign on the door of his room said "family members only." The hospital staff must have been amazed at the size of the family who came to say goodby to Jerzy Neyman.
It is fortunate that Constance Reid, author of mathematical biographies of Hilbert and Courant, became interested in Neyman's life and influence and spent many hours interviewing him during his last years. Her book, Neyman--From Life, based on these interviews and on his personal papers, was published in 1982 by Springer-Verlag.
David Blackwell
Lucien Le Cam
Erich L. Lehman
H. Lewy
Elizabeth L. Scott
This University of California obituary is available at THIS LINK