David Salsburg utilizes each chapter of his book The Lady Tasting Tea to showcase an individual, their contributions to statistics, and some personal history. The author juxtaposes historical occurrences, along with each narrative. Salsburg does an excellent job depicting each individual as an ordinary person with a particular passion, which often leads them to produce some major contribution to statistics and society.
This type of characterization inspires the reader to feel connected to the humanness of these individuals. Salsburg writes, “Seldom do good scientists think about the eventual importance of their work” (p. 2).
Carl Pearson, who later changed the spelling of his name to Karl Pearson as a tribute to Karl Marx, was a prominent…show more content… The author indicates that Pearson and his friends “froze him out” of the mainstream. I thought it was particularly rude when Pearson published one of Fisher’s papers as merely a footnote.
It seemed that Fisher was highly misunderstood. He seemed to fit the stereotype of people who enjoy complex math. Given that he seemed to lack the awareness that things that may seem obvious and clear to him were not necessarily obvious and clear to others. When I read the subsection Fisher the “Fascist” I began to dislike Fisher. I also thought it was unfair that Fisher was hostile towards Egon Pearson, simply because of his father. Later in the book when Fisher gives his opinion on the link between cancer and smoking I was quite confused. I am still not sure if he truly did not believe there was a link or if he was simply arguing that you can never use statistics to make a case for causation. Another lingering question I had about Fisher was why he went to listen to Neyman’s reading that was given in French if he could not understand
French? It seemed that Fisher did not like Neyman, but this action seemed to imply that perhaps in his own way he respected Neyman’s…show more content… Yes, there were some prominent women that contributed to statistics, which my group members will discuss in our presentation. However, it is important to me that I acknowledge the women behind the scenes who I think also played a crucial role in their own way.
First, I must acknowledge the author’s wife, Fran, who encouraged Salsburg to write the book in a manner that non-mathematical people, like myself could understand and enjoy the book. Secondly, the book is titled after the actual lady that tasted the tea and started this entire revolution in a sense. I skimmed and re-skimmed after my initial reading, but I do not believe her name is mentioned. It is also noteworthy that she was able to identify every cup correctly.
In 1897 when Karl Pearson took over Galton’s biometrical lab he ushered in young women who were referred to as “calculators”. There women were responsible for computing the parameters of distribution for the human measurement data. I find this quite fascinating. It was disappointed that they were only referred to once in the book and only briefly. Julia Bell was able to get measurements in a country in which she