Karl Pearson
| Karl Pearson | |
|---|---|
Karl Pearson in 1912.
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| Born | Carl Pearson 27 March 1857 Islington, London, England |
| Died | 27 April 1936 (aged 79) Coldharbour, Surrey, England |
| Residence | England |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Lawyer, Germanist, eugenicist, mathematician and statistician (primarily the last) |
| Institutions |
University College London King's College, Cambridge |
| Alma mater |
King's College, Cambridge University of Heidelberg |
| Academic advisors | Francis Galton |
| Notable students |
Philip Hall John Wishart Julia Bell Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen |
| Known for |
Principal Component Analysis Pearson distribution Pearson's r Pearson's chi-squared test Phi coefficient |
| Influenced | Albert Einstein, Henry Ludwell Moore, James Arthur Harris |
| Notable awards | Darwin Medal (1898) |
Karl Pearson FRS (/ˈpɪərsən/; originally named Carl; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an influential English mathematician and biostatistician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world's first university statistics department at University College London in 1911, and contributed significantly to the field of biometrics, meteorology, theories of social Darwinism and eugenics. Pearson was also a protégé and biographer of Sir Francis Galton.
Pearson was born in Islington, London to William and Fanny (nee Smith), and had two siblings, Arthur and Amy. Pearson was educated privately at University College School, after which he went to King's College, Cambridge in 1876 to study mathematics, graduating in 1879 as Third Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos. He then travelled to Germany to study physics at the University of Heidelberg under G H Quincke and metaphysics under Kuno Fischer. He next visited the University of Berlin, where he attended the lectures of the famous physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond on Darwinism (Emil was a brother of Paul du Bois-Reymond, the mathematician). Pearson also studied Roman Law, taught by Bruns and Mommsen, medieval and 16th century German Literature, and Socialism. He became an accomplished historian and Germanist and spent much of the 1880s in Berlin, Heidelberg, Vienna, Saig bei Lenzkirch, and Brixlegg. He wrote on Passion plays, religion, Goethe, Werther, as well as sex-related themes, and was a founder of the Men and Women's Club.
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