Research Interests
Investigation of the history of the development of statistical methods, with attention to the different ways in
which problems in astronomy, geodesy, social sciences, and psychology accelerated or inhibited this development.
The study of the reception of quantification in the sciences, from seventeenth-century medicine to twentieth-century
scial science, and of the way twentieth-century conceptual developments evolved from earlier work and advances in
technology. The investigation of how understanding of regression and aggregation paradoxes have influenced policy
debates, and how subtle mathematical developments in the twentieth century have become confounded with personal disputes
and the formation of scientific schools. The history of lotteries in the 18th and 19th centuries and their role in
forming (and reflection of) public attitudes towards risk. Twentieth century mathematical statistics, particularly
the work and relationship between Karl Pearson and Ronald Fisher.
The application of statistical theory in such areas as the written transmission of historical information, the
evaluation of trends, periodicities, and anomalies in the fossil record, clustering in cultural anthropology, the
optimal arrangement of published information, and the measurement of influence in scientific research. The statistics
of sports, particularly in baseball and tournament golf.
Last update: 7/10 |
