Dear All

 

Some time ago I was asked by the RSS to investigate the feasibility of
establishing a "History of Statistics" section. This followed the highly
successful KP 150th birthday conference in 2007.

 

I have circulated several round-robins inviting those with interest or
comments to contact me. This email records the responses.

 

In summary:

 

1. I had about 10 replies. This email will go to each of those, and to
several others. (Please feel free to copy it to anyone you think might be
interested - also,  it would seem to be sensible to put the 10 respondents
in touch with each other, so if you do NOT want to be included on a mailing
list of names + email addresses, please let me know.)

 

2. My current views are:

            a. There seems insufficient evidence of support for such a group
to flourish easily on an on-going basis unless somebody is prepared to put a
lot of effort into establishing it. (10 respondents seems far below the
'critical mass' - especially as several of these are far from <London and
even in Australia!)

            b. I personally do not want to be the one to put a lot of effort
into establishing such a group. But I would support anyone else who might
volunteer.

            c. Even if we do not have an official History "section", we
could well work together to enhance the RSS's 'history profile'. This could
include special meetings as well as 'outreach' activities e.g. promoting RSS
and other statistical archives (there is still a wealth of untouched KP and
ESP stuff at UCL); enhancing the RSS profile in Wikipedia, etc., etc..

 

3. I'd welcome your comments & views, following receipt of which I shall
prepare a short 'reply' for the RSS - hopefully in time for the 'History
Day' on March 18th.

 

 

Some of the comments that were sent to me are attached below.

 

Thanks for looking at this

 

JOHN BIBBY

 

===============

 

 

SOME COMMENTS MADE TO ME REGARDING THE PROPOSED RSS HISTORY SECTION.

 

 

1. "I once read that the History department in some University somewhere had
started a consultancy unit that could supply historical facts on tap
whenever they were needed and I thought that was a brilliant idea. I
considered approaching the History dept at my own University to suggest they
consider doing the same. The RSS History Section could have a similar role
as well as recording and retaining historical tales and connections, it
could also be a resource for people wanting historical details. I am sure
the likes of Quality Improvement and other sections would contribute potted
histories relating to the development of their subject."

 

2. .. RSS News has just reached me here in Australia and I read your letter
with interest. Could you please add me to your list of people interested in
a History Section of the RSS. I have a general interest in marking
anniversaries, and in particular I am interested in Florence Nightingale
(I've already been in contact with Alison Macfarlane on FN's anniversary in
2010). I also organised a 100th birthday for the t test at The University of
Canberra last year. I hope I can contribute something to the section and can
help to move it forward.

 

3. I think it's a nice idea - but don't expect me to be able to contribute
any effort for at least a year!

 

4. I think this is a good idea. It does seem that as we get older we become
more interested in the past! You might need to start with a Study group and
hope that it is sufficiently successful that it develops into a

section. I've spent quite a lot of time over the last year on Yule's 1899
paper on poverty and regression and am now trying to recreate the raw data
he used. Only a small part of the raw data is in the paper -

and reveals that he made a mistake in his calculations!

 

5. . . . I'm not sure whether your idea for an RSS History section is to
look at the history of statistics or statistics applied to history or a bit
of both . . . 

 

6. I saw your note in RSS News, and think that it's a splendid suggestion.
My particular interest has been in some of the history of official
statistics and sampling, but I guess a section would encompass a wide range
of

aspects. I need to temper my enthusiasm with a warning that I am heavily
committed to an assortment of committees for the next year or two, so not
sure whether I would participate or not in a formal section structure - but
I did want to record that I think a section would be a good idea.

 

7. I'm interested in your proposal to consider establishing an RSS History
Section.  I've been asked to give one of the talks in Edinburgh in September
.

 

8. I should be interested in an RSS History Section. .... (I had never
realised that Florrie Nightingale was such an eminent statistician until the
last RSS News carried a small item about her.  I

stood on the Bosphorus in September looking across at her hospital, as
coincidence would have it.)

 

9. It is interesting that the two letters in the latest RSS News both float
ideas for new activities.  I would be interested  in a history section if it
looked to be viable, but I wonder just what activities you have in

mind for it?  My own feeling is that while there is an obvious interest in
history sparked by special occasions such as centenaries of births, deaths,
some great discovery, or anniversary of a foundation, that

interest tends to cluster round these particular events,  and different ones
interest different people.  The exceptions are a few individuals (I am one
of them) who are interested in a broader historical canvas.

There are certainly a few people in that category here and I think even more
in the USA. 

 

I think you should be guided by how enthusiastic a response you get to your
letter and by what suggestions are made as to what the section activities
might be.  If there is a strong positive response it would

obviously be sensible to go ahead.  It is less obvious whether the idea is
worthwhile pushing if there is only a limited or luke warm response.

 

10. my view of the historical section of the RSS was that we could hold an
annual meeting on some aspect of the history of statistics for both
statisticians interested in the history and professional historians who

write on statistics, and produce some sort of journal or publication
utilising the papers in publishable form from various speakers (where I
would be the principal editor, since I can communicate to both audiences). I
also had thought about the idea of having an online journal/newspaper/forum
of some sort. I don't think the  RSS really does that much for the history
of statistics, even though they seem to be receptive of the idea, so this is
where the historical section would fit in.