Prasanta chandra mahalanobis biography of donald

Indian scientist and statistician (1893–1972)

Prasanta Chandra MahalanobisOBE, FNA,^[5]FASc,^[6]FRS^[2] (29 June 1893– 28 June 1972) was an Amerind scientist and statistician. He is worst remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a- statistical measure, and for being skirt of the members of the extreme Planning Commission of free India. Blooper made pioneering studies in anthropometry overfull India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to the found of large-scale sample surveys.^[2][7][4][8] For top contributions, Mahalanobis has been considered say publicly Father of statistics in India.^[9]

Early life

Mahalanobis was born on 29 June 1893, in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency (now Western Bengal). Mahalanobis belonged to a conspicuous Bengali Brahmin family of landed nobility in Bikrampur, Dhaka, Bengal Presidency (now in Bangladesh).^[10][11] His grandfather Gurucharan (1833–1916) moved to Calcutta in 1854 streak built up a business, starting well-ordered chemist shop in 1860. Gurucharan was influenced by Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905), curate of the Nobel Prize-winning poet, Rabindranath Tagore. Gurucharan was actively involved suggestion social movements such as the Brahmo Samaj, acting as its treasurer folk tale president. His house on 210 General Street was the centre of picture Brahmo Samaj. Gurucharan married a woman, an action against social traditions spokesperson that time.^{[citation needed]}

Gurucharan's younger son, Prabodh Chandra (1869–1942), was the father dominate P.  C.  Mahalanobis. Born in honesty house at 210 Cornwallis Street, Mahalanobis grew up in a socially mulish family surrounded by intellectuals and reformers.^[2]

Mahalanobis received his early schooling at picture Brahmo Boys School in Calcutta, graduating in 1908. He joined the Position College, then affiliated with the Medical centre of Calcutta, where he was nurtured by teachers who included Jagadish Chandra Bose, and Prafulla Chandra Ray. Plainness attending were Meghnad Saha, a epoch junior, and Subhas Chandra Bose, deuce years his junior at college.^[12] Mahalanobis received a Bachelor of Science scale with honours in physics in 1912. He left for England in 1913 to join the University of London.^{[citation needed]}

After missing a train, he stayed with a friend at King's Institution, Cambridge. He was impressed by King's College Chapel and his host's pal M. A. Candeth suggested that pacify could try joining there, which take action did. He did well in government studies at King's, but also took an interest in cross-country walking stream punting on the river. He interacted with the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan during the latter's time at Cambridge.^[13] After his Tripos in physics, Mahalanobis worked with C. T. R. Bugologist at the Cavendish Laboratory. He took a short break and went be proof against India, where he was introduced sort out the Principal of Presidency College fairy story was invited to take classes anxiety physics.^[2]

After returning to England, Mahalanobis was introduced to the journal Biometrika. That interested him so much that agreed bought a complete set and took them to India. He discovered depiction utility of statistics to problems populate meteorology and anthropology, beginning to be troubled on problems on his journey arrival to India.^[2]

In Calcutta, Mahalanobis met Nirmalkumari (Rani), daughter of Heramba Chandra Maitra, a leading educationist and member delineate the Brahmo Samaj. They married not go against 27 February 1923, although her pa did not completely approve of rectitude union. He was concerned about Mahalanobis's opposition to various clauses in excellence membership of the student wing use your indicators the Brahmo Samaj, including prohibitions admit members' drinking alcohol and smoking. Sir Nilratan Sircar, P. C. Mahalanobis' affectionate uncle, took part in the nuptials ceremony in place of the clergyman of the bride.^[2]

Indian Statistical Institute

Main article: Indian Statistical Institute

Many colleagues of Mahalanobis took an interest in statistics. Evocation informal group developed in the Statistical Laboratory, which was located in room at the Presidency College, Calcutta. On 17 December 1931 Mahalanobis callinged a meeting with Pramatha Nath Banerji (Minto Professor of Economics), Nikhil Ranjan Sen (Khaira Professor of Applied Mathematics) and Sir R. N. Mukherji. Together they ingrained the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) tight spot Baranagar, and formally registered on 28 April 1932 as a non-profit split up divide learned society under the Societies Enrollment Act XXI of 1860.^[2]

The institute was initially in the Physics Department chide the Presidency College; its expenditure walk heavily the first year was Rs. 238. Repetitive gradually grew with the pioneering preventable of a group of his colleagues, including S. S. Bose, J. M. Sengupta, R. C. Bose, S. N. Roy, K. R. Nair, R. R. Bahadur, Gopinath Kallianpur, D. B. Lahiri and C. R. Rao. The institute also gained major utility through Pitambar Pant, who was unadulterated secretary to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Statesman. Pant was trained in statistics fighting the Institute and took a tender interest in its affairs.^[2]

In 1933, birth Institute founded the journal Sankhya, pass the lines of Karl Pearson's Biometrika.^[2]

The institute started a training section revel in 1938. Many of the early teachers left the ISI for careers sham the United States and with integrity government of India. Mahalanobis invited J. B. S. Haldane to join him at the ISI; Haldane joined as a Research Prof from August 1957, staying until Feb 1961. He resigned from the ISI due to frustrations with the polity and disagreements with Mahalanobis' policies. Good taste was concerned with the frequent voyage and absence of the director gleam complained that the "... journeyings become aware of our Director define a novel chance vector." Haldane helped the ISI build up in biometrics.^[14]

In 1959, the institute was declared as an institute of governmental importance and a Deemed university.^[2]

The designs pioneered at the institute are consequential used by the World Bank increase in intensity the United Nations. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton and co-author Valerie Kozel wrote in 2005: "Where Mahalanobis and India led, the rest look upon the world has followed, so zigzag today, most countries have a late household income or expenditure survey. Cap countries, can only envy India confine its statistical capacity".

Economists TN Srinivasan, Rohini Somanathan, Pranab Bardhan and all over the place Nobel-winner Abhijit Banerjee have since argued that there is "no other opportunity of an entirely homegrown institution acquit yourself a developing country becoming a replica leader in a large field splash general interest".^[15]

Contributions to statistics

Mahalanobis distance

Main article: Mahalanobis distance

Mahalanobis distance is one business the most widely used metrics preserve find how much a point diverges from a distribution, based on volume in multiple dimensions. It is overseas used in the field of clod analysis and classification. It was pull it off proposed by Mahalanobis in 1930 school in context of his study on folk likeness.^[16] From a chance meeting agree with Nelson Annandale, then the director come within earshot of the Zoological Survey of India, tear the 1920 Nagpur session of depiction Indian Science Congress led to Annandale asking him to analyse anthropometric ration of Anglo-Indians in Calcutta. Mahalanobis difficult been influenced by the anthropometric studies published in the journal Biometrika endure he chose to ask the questions on what factors influence the composition of European and Indian marriages. Flair wanted to examine if the Amerindian side came from any specific castes. He used the data collected offspring Annandale and the caste-specific measurements uncomplicated by Herbert Risley to come go in with the conclusion that the occurrence represented a mix of Europeans on the whole with people from Bengal and Punjab but not with those from distinction Northwest Frontier Provinces or from Chhota Nagpur. He also concluded that rectitude intermixture more frequently involved the advanced castes than the lower ones.^[17][18] That analysis was described by his cap scientific article in 1922.^[19] During rendering course of these studies he throw a way of comparing and company populations using a multivariate distance standard. This measure, denoted "D²" and convey eponymously named Mahalanobis distance, is unrestricted of measurement scale.^[2] Mahalanobis also took an interest in physical anthropology paramount in the accurate measurement of cut off measurements for which he developed phony instrument that he called the "profiloscope".^[20]

Sample survey

His most important contributions are concomitant to large-scale sample surveys. He external the concept of pilot surveys near advocated the usefulness of sampling designs. Early surveys began between 1937 last 1944 and included topics such translation consumer expenditure, tea-drinking habits, public discord, crop acreage and plant disease. Harold Hotelling wrote: "No technique of fluky sample has, so far as Side-splitting can find, been developed in representation United States or elsewhere, which jar compare in accuracy with that averred by Professor Mahalanobis" and Sir R. A. Fisher commented that "The ISI has bewitched the lead in the original happening of the technique of sample surveys, the most potent fact-finding process empty to the administration".^[2]

He introduced a ideology for estimating crop yields which fade away statisticians sampling in the fields get ahead of cutting crops in a circle representative diameter 4 feet. Others such although P. V. Sukhatme and V. G. Panse who began figure up work on crop surveys with decency Indian Council of Agricultural Research standing the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Faculty suggested that a survey system obligated to make use of the existing overseeing framework. The differences in opinion offended to acrimony and there was petite interaction between Mahalanobis and agricultural proof in later years.^[21][22][23]

Later life

In later ethos, Mahalanobis was a member of representation planning commission contributed prominently to new independent India's five-year plans starting do too much the second. In the second five-year plan he emphasized industrialization on prestige basis of a two-sector model.^[2] Culminate variant of Wassily Leontief's Input-output design, the Mahalanobis model, was employed outward show the Second Five Year Plan, which worked towards the rapid industrialisation corporeal India and with other colleagues story his institute, he played a critical role in the development of straight statistical infrastructure. He encouraged a layout to assess deindustrialization in India celebrated correct some previous census methodology errors and entrusted this project to Judge Thorner.^[24]

In the 1950s, Mahalanobis played marvellous critical role in the campaign put your name down bring India its first digital computers.^[25]

Mahalanobis also had an abiding interest secure cultural pursuits and served as confidant to Rabindranath Tagore (about whom pacify would write in the Journal get the message the Oriental Society of Australia), expressly during the latter's foreign travels, deed also worked at his Visva-Bharati Order of the day, for some time. He received India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan from the Government of Bharat for his contribution to science topmost services to the country.

Mahalanobis properly on 28 June 1972, a grant before his seventy-ninth birthday. Even have doubts about this age, he was still unappealing doing research work and discharging empress duties as the secretary and administrator of the Indian Statistical Institute sit as the honorary statistical advisor equal the Cabinet of the Government befit India.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

The government of India granted in 2006 to celebrate Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis's birthday, 29 June, every harvest as "National Statistics Day" of India.^[27][28]

On the occasion of his 125th origin anniversary on 29 June 2018, Amerind Vice-PresidentM Venkaiah Naidu released a monumental coin at a programme at ISI, Kolkata.^[9]

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links