Frederick Mosteller: Harvard Man
Frederick Mosteller (1916–2006) founded Harvard University's Department of Statistics and served as its first chairman from 1957 until 1969 and again for several years in the 1970s. He was the author or co-author of more than 350 scholarly papers and more than 50 books, including one of the most popular books in his field, first published in 1965 and reprinted by Dover in 1987, Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability with Solutions.
Mosteller's work was wide-ranging: He used statistical analysis of written works to prove that James Madison was the author of several of the Federalist papers whose authorship was in dispute. With then–Harvard professor and later Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, he studied what would be the most effective way of helping students from impoverished families do better in school — their answer: to improve income levels rather than to simply spend on schools. Later, his analysis of the importance to learning of smaller class sizes buttressed the Clinton Administration's initiative to hire 100,000 teachers. And, as far back as the 1940s, Mosteller composed an early statistical analysis of baseball: After his team, the Boston Red Sox, lost the 1946 World Series, he demonstrated that luck plays an enhanced role in a short series, even for a strong team.
In the Author's Own Words:
"Though we often hear that data can speak for themselves, their voices can be soft and sly." — Frederick Mosteller
