Materials for the History of Statistics

Portraits of Statisticians

• Portraits of Statisticians

Life and Work of Statisticians

• Life and Work of Statisticians

Bibliographies

• Bibliographical References

Convergence

• Convergence: Where Mathematics, History and Teaching Interact

The Cornell Historic Math Book Collection

• The Cornell Historic Math Book Collection

Digital Mathematical Library (DML)

• Digital Mathematical Library (DML)

Discussion Lists

• Convergence (Online Magazine)
• Historia Matematica Foro [HM]
• Historia Matematica [HM] Listmembers Database

e-Resources for the history of Mathematics

• Akademiebibliothetek
• Archimedes project
• Collected Works
• COPAC
• Digizeitschriften
• Early English Books Online
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online
• Electronic Journal for History of Probability and Statistics
• Euler archive
• Institute for Historical Research Recent Publications
• Journ@l Electronique d'Histoire des Probabilités et de la Statistique
• Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog
• Math People
• New Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB)
• Science in the Netherlands
• University of Minnesota Morris
• Web of Knowledge (WoK)

Earliest Known Uses

• Earliest known uses of mathematical words
• First (?) occurrence of common terms in statistics and probability
• Earliest known uses of mathematical symbols
• Probability and Statistics on the Earliest Uses Pages

Figures from the History of Probability and Statistics

• Figures from the History of Probability and Statistics Page due to John Aldrich, University of Southampton

Gallica

• Texts available from the Biblioteque Nationale de France

Goettinger Digitalisierungs-Zentrum

• Texts available from the Goettinger Digitalisierungs-Zentrum

Graphics

• 	Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization
  	Gallery of Data Visualization
  	A tenth century graph; from H Gray Funkhauser, "A note on a tenth century graph", Osiris 1 (1936), 260-262, reproduced on p.28 of E R Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press 1983.

The Jahrbuch Project

• Electronic Research Archive for Mathematics (ERAM)

Journ@l Electronique d'Histoire des Probabilités etde la Statistique

• Journ@l Electronique d'Histoire des Probabilités etde la Statistique

Major Texts on the Subject

• Oscar Sheynin, Theory of Probability: A Historical Essay (published by NG Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-938417-15-3)
• Stephen M Stigler, The History of Statistics: The Measurement of Uncertainty before 1900, Cambridge, MA, and London: Belkap Press of Harvard University Press 1986.
  • Table of Contents and Bibliography
• Stephen M Stigler, Statistics on the Table: The History of StatisticalConcepts and Methods, Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press.
• Anders Hald, A History of Probability and Statistics and their applications before 1750, New York, etc.: Wiley 1986.
  • Table of Contents
• Anders Hald, A History of Mathematical Statistics from 1750 to 1930, New York, etc.: Wiley 1998.
  • Table of Contents and Bibliography
• Anders Hald, A history of parametric statistical inference from Bernoulli to Fisher, 1713-1935, New York, etc.: Springer, 2007.
  • Table of Contents

Mac Tutor History of Mathematics Archive

• Mac Tutor History of Mathematics Archive

National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists

• National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists

New Dictionary of Scientific Biography

• New Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Outline History of Game Theory

• An outline of the history of game theory by Paul Walker

Quotations

• Some Quotable Quotes for Statistics by J E H Shaw

Societies

• BSHM (British Society for the History of Mathematics)

• CSHPM Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics

Statistical Tables

• Statistical Tables

Symmetry

• Plane Symmetry

University if York Examination Papers

• University of York Examination Papers on the History of Statistics

University of York Library

• The History of Statistics: A Select Bibliography (2nd edition) pdf version or LaTeX source

Other Materials

• Four views of an astragulus:; Plate 1 from F N David, Games, Gods and Gambling, London: Griffin 1962.

• General Bill of Mortality for the Year 1665; illustrated on p.101 of F N David, Games, Gods and Gambling, London: Griffin 1962.

• Cubic and Quartic Equations (LaTeX source) or Cubic and Quartic Equations (pdf file).

• Retail Stock Shrinkage; from "Mastering Management. Applied Statistics" by S Howell, Financial Times 1996 July 5.

• A 5 x 5 Latin square laid out at Bettgelert Forest in 1929 to study the effect of exposure on Sitka spruce, Norway spruce, Japaneses larch, Pinus contorta and Beech. Photograph taken about 1945;
  Plate 6 from J F Box, R.A. Fisher: The Life of a Scientist, New York: Wiley 1978.

• Layout of Bettgelert Experiment; Plate 7 from J F Box, R.A. Fisher: The Life of a Scientist, New York: Wiley 1978.

• Matrix Derivation of the Sum of n^k (LaTeX source) or Matrix Derivation of the Sum of n^k (pdf file).

• Scene at Gare Montparnasse, 22 October 1895. From front cover of J R Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis, Oxford University Press 1982 for Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books.

• Information on the History of the Normal Law (LaTeX source) or Information on the History of the Normal Law (pdf file).

• The quincunx. Figures 7, 8 and 9 from F Galton, Natural Inheritance, London: Macmillan 1889, Chapter V, p.63.

• The two-stage quincunx and the law of reversion from F Galton, "Typical laws of heredity", Nature 15 (1877), 492-495, 512-514 and 532-533 = Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain 8 (1877) 282-301, reprinted in S M Stigler, The History of Statistics: The Measurement of Uncertainty Before 1900, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1986, Fig. 8.6, p.280.

• The 'Pascal' triangle as depicted in A.D. 1303 from the front of Chu Shi-Chieh's Ssu Yuan Yü Chien. It is entitled `The Old Method Chart of the Seven Multiplying Squares' and tabulates the binomial coefficients up to the eighth power.
  Reproduced as Fig. 53 on p. 55 of The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China. An abridgment by Colin A. Ronan of Joseph Needham's original text. Volume 2: Volume III and a section of Volume IV, Part I of the major series, Cambridge University Press 1981.

This page is maintained by Peter M Lee

Revised 13 November 2009