'Student' - A Statistical Biography of William Sealy Gosset (Hardcover)

William Sealy Gosset is known to all statisticians and users of statistics by "student" his pseudonym best remembered in the student t-test. This volume, based on his statistical correspondence, is a biographical account of his life and work which, through his collaboration with R.A.Fisher and Karl and Egon Pearson, came to fundamentally influence the development of modern statistical thinking. It will provide insight into the ferment of statistical ideas discussed by Gosset and his co-workers. In particular, it sheds new light on the way in which Gosset's work (at the St.James Gate Brewery owned by Guinness) and his interest in the statistics of small samples came to profoundly influence Fisher's early work. A refreshing aspect of Gosset's letters are that they reveal his likeable and modest character. Similarly his dislike of controversy is illustrated by his letters written at the time of the reception of Fisher's "statistical methods for research workers", but which still serve to show Gosset's own strong views on the book. The volume is based on the writings of Egon Pearson who intended to write a complete biography based on the statistical correspondence of Gosset. It should