Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis প্রশান্ত চন্দ্র মহলানবীশ | |
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Prasanta Chandra
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Born |
Bengali: প্রশান্ত চন্দ্র মহালানবিস 29 June 1893 Calcutta, Bengal, British India |
Died | 28 June 1972 Calcutta, West Bengal, India (now Kolkata) |
(aged 78)
Residence | India, United Kingdom, United States |
Nationality | Indian |
Fields | Mathematics, Statistics |
Institutions |
University of Cambridge Indian Statistical Institute |
Alma mater |
Presidency College, Calcutta King's College, Cambridge |
Doctoral advisor | W. H. Macaulay |
Doctoral students | Samarendra Roy |
Other notable students |
Raj Chandra Bose C.R. Rao |
Known for |
Mahalanobis distance Feldman–Mahalanobis model |
Notable awards |
Padma Vibhushan (1968) Fellow of the Royal Society Weldon Memorial Prize |
Signature |
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis FRS (29 June 1893 – 28 June 1972) was an Indian scientist and applied statistician. He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure and for being one of the members of the first Planning commission of free India. He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.
Mahalanobis belonged to a family of Bengali landed gentry who lived in Bikrampur (now in Bangladesh). His grandfather Gurucharan (1833–1916) moved to Calcutta in 1854 and built up a business, starting a chemist shop in 1860. Gurucharan was influenced by Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905), father of the Nobel Prize–winning poet, Rabindranath Tagore. Gurucharan was actively involved in social movements such as the Brahmo Samaj, acting as its Treasurer and President. His house on 210 Cornwallis Street was the center of the Brahmo Samaj. Gurucharan married a widow, an action against social traditions.
His elder son Subodhchandra (1867–1953) became a distinguished educator after studying physiology at Edinburgh University. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[1] He was the Head of the Dept. of Physiology, University of Cardiff (the first Indian to occupy this post in a British university). In 1900, Subodhchandra returned to India, founding the Dept. of Physiology in the Presidency College, Calcutta. Subodhchandra also became a member of the Senate of the Calcutta University.