C. R. Rao features on the top of the list. He once said that statistics is the technology of finding the invisible and measuring the immeasurable. – Abdul Kalam, Bharat Ratna
For its (ISI) educational programs, the institute needs not only leaders of mathematical thought like Professor Rao, who can uphold and maintain the high place in the world opinion that Indians have already won. – Sir Ronald A. Fisher, the Father of Modern Statistics
These short lines of introduction are just a precursor for the amount of praise anyone can heap on the living legend Dr C. R. Rao
Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao, was born on 10 September 1920 into a Telugu family in Hadagali, Bellary, Karnataka. His father C. Doraswamy Naidu was an Inspector of Police with a reputation for CID work and his wasmother A. Laxmikanthamma. He received an M.Sc. in mathematics from Andhra University and an M.A. in statistics from Calcutta University in 1943. He was among the first few people in the world to hold a master's degree in Statistics.
He is a very popular statistician and well renowned academician. He is the only person in the world to receive doctorates from 38 Universities belonging to 19 countries across the globe. He lives in Pittsburgh and he is also the only Indian to receive the prestigious Guy Medal (gold) in 2011 from the Royal Statistical Society of UK.
Among his best-known discoveries are the Cramér–Rao bound and the Rao–Blackwell theorem both related to the quality of estimators. Other areas he worked in include multivariate analysis, estimation theory, and differential geometry. His other contributions include the Fisher–Rao Theorem, Rao distance, and Orthogonal arrays. He is the author of 14 books and has published over 400 journal publications.
The American Statistical Association has described him as "a living legend whose work has influenced not just statistics, but has had far reaching implications for fields as varied as economics, genetics, anthropology, geology, national planning, demography, biometry, and medicine". He has served as the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the International Biometric Society.
Some examples of his numerous Indian and international awards:
-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award from the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, from Prime Minister Nehru in 1963. C. R. Rao donated the entire prize money to the National Defense Fund saying that "The country's need is greater than that of an individual scientist".
-National Medal of Science, USA in 2002, from the American president, G. W. Bush, calling him "a prophet of the new age".
-India Science Award "for his significant contributions to the field of statistical science during an illustrious career spanning six decades", given by the Prime Minister of India in 2009.
The American Statistical Association has described him as "a living legend whose work has influenced not just statistics, but has had far reaching implications for fields as varied as economics, genetics, anthropology, geology, national planning, demography, biometry, and medicine". He has served as the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the International Biometric Society.
Some examples of his numerous Indian and international awards:
-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award from the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, from Prime Minister Nehru in 1963. C. R. Rao donated the entire prize money to the National Defense Fund saying that "The country's need is greater than that of an individual scientist".
-National Medal of Science, USA in 2002, from the American president, G. W. Bush, calling him "a prophet of the new age".
-India Science Award "for his significant contributions to the field of statistical science during an illustrious career spanning six decades", given by the Prime Minister of India in 2009.
