Written by one of the top most statisticians with experience in diverse fields of applications of statistics, the book deals with the philosophical and methodological aspects of information technology, collection and analysis of data to provide insight into a problem, whether it is scientific research, policy making by government or making in our daily lives. decision
The author dispels the doubts that chance is an expression of our ignorance which makes accurate prediction im-possible and illustrates how our thinking has changed with quantification of un-certainty by showing that chance is no longer the obstructor but a way of expressing our knowledge. Indeed, chance can create and help in the investigation of truth. It is eloquently demonstrated with numerous examples of applications that statistics is the science, technology and art of extracting information from data and is based on a study of the laws of chance. It is highlighted how statistical ideas played a vital role in scientific and other investigations even before statistics was recognized as a separate discipline and how statistics is now evolving as a versatile, powerful and inevitable tool in diverse fields of human endeavour such as literature, legal matters, industry, archaeology and medicine.
C. Radhakrishna Rao has Ph.D and Sc.D degrees from the Cambridge University, U.K., and Honorary Doctorates from eight countries around the world. Elec-ted Fellow of the Royal Society, London, Honorary Life Fellow of the American Academy of Arts. and Science, and Fellow of several academic societies and institutes in India and abroad. He is an honorary member of the Royal Statistical Society, International Statistical Institute and the Bio-metric Society, and honorary life Fellow, Kings College, Cambridge. He has been the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Biometric Society. Author or coauthor of 10 books and 300 research publications and recipient of numerous honours, Dr. C. R. Rao is described as one of the top most statisticians of the world today'. Currently National Professor, India, and Eberly Professor of Statistics at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, Dr Rao is one of the architects of the Indian Statistical Institute with which he is associated since 1941.
I consider it a great honour to be called upon to deliver the Ramanujan Memorial Lectures under the auspices of the CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research). I would like to thank Dr. A. P. Mitra, Director General of the CSIR, for giving me this honour and opportunity to participate in the Ramanujan centenary colobrations.
I gave three lectures, the first ono in Delhi, the second in Calcutta and the third in Madras as scheduled, which I have written up in four chapters for publiction. In the beginning of each lecture I have said a few words about the life and work of Ramanujan, the rare mathematical genius who was a legendary figure in my younger days. This is to draw the attention of the younger generation to the achievements of Ramanujan, and to emphasize the need to reform our educational system and reorganize our research institutes to encourage creativity and original thinking among the students.
When I was a student, statistics was in its infancy and I have closely watched its evolution over the last 50 years as an independent discipline of great importance and a powerful tool in acquiring know-ledge in any field of enquiry. The reason for such phenomenal developments is not difficult to seek.
Beginning this year, CSIR has instituted a distinguished lectureship series. The objective here is to invite eminent scientists from India and abroad for delivering a series of three lectures on topics of their choice. The lectures, known as the CSIR Distinguished Lectures, were to be delivered in different locations of the country. The first of this series has been dedicated to the memory of the mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.
It augurs well that this first set of lectures (CSIR Ramanujan lectures) has begun with those of Prof. C. Radhakrishna Rao, National Professor (and currently Eberly Professor of Statistics, University of Pennsylvania), a distinguished scientist in the inter-national statistics scene.
The lectures were delivered, at the National Physical Laboratory in Delhi, at the Central Leather Research Institute in Madras and in the Indian Statistical Institute at Calcutta and were widely appreciated by professional statisticians, by physicists, chemists and biological scientists, by students of different age groups and by professionals and administrators. The scope of these lectures was wide and pervaded many areas of human activities, both scientific and administrative.
By arranging to have the lectures published now, CSIR hopes that a wider community of scientists the world over will be able to derive the benefit of the expertise of renowned men like Professor Rao.
I express my appreciation of the efforts of Dr. Y. R. Sarma for having edited and brought out the volume quickly.
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