Quiet Contributor: The Civic Career and Times of John W. Tukey
F. R. Anscombe
Source: Statist. Sci. Volume 18, Issue 3
(2003), 287-310.
Abstract
Across 60 years, John W. Tukey contributed to the advancement of democracy, peace and industry via development, application and teaching of knowledge. In his nation's service, he contributed to the Nike missile defense, U-2 spy plane, surveillance satellites in space, hydrophones in the oceans, seismic data interpretation and communications code breaking. As computer and communication pioneer, Tukey collaborated with von Neumann, Shannon and Pierce; coined "bit'' and "software''; applied statistical time series methods to processing signals; and recognized the usefulness of fast Fourier transform algorithms to digital processing of correlated data. Practical problems inspired Tukey to invent new ways to analyze data. As teacher and author, he made these available to others. Tukey advised government and industry regarding environmental quality, educational testing, the census, pharmaceutical efficacy, manufacturing quality and technologies for gathering intelligence. This paper explores the civic career, influences and philosophies of a practicing data analyst, inventor and remarkable public servant.
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Keywords: Exploratory data analysis; fast Fourier transform; time series; boxplot; stem-and-leaf display; multiple comparisons; analysis of variance; one degree of freedom for nonadditivity; robust estimates; software; bit; American Philosophical Society; Bell Labs; Brown University; Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences; Central Intelligence Agency; Health Effects Institute; Institute for Advanced Study; Institute for Defense Analyses; Merck; National Security Agency; Princeton University; RAND; Presidential Science Advisory Committee; System Development Foundation; Xerox PARC; census; educational testing; election returns; environmental protection; CFCs; Nike missile; pharmaceutical testing; SOSUS; U-2 spy plane; Edgar Anderson; F. J. Anscombe; William O. Baker; Hendrik Bode; Arthur Burks; W. E. Deming; Richard Feynman; R. A. Fisher; William F. Friedman; Richard Garwin; H. H. Goldstine; I. J. Good; David C. Hoaglin; James Killian; Alfred C. Kinsey; Solomon Kullback; Edwin Land; Richard Leibler; Brockway McMillan; Oskar Morgenstern; Frederick Mosteller; Daniel P. Moynihan; Walter Munk; M. H. A. Newman; John R. Pierce; Edward Purcell; Claude E. Shannon; Lyman Spitzer, Jr.; Alan Turing; Stanislaw Ulam; John von Neumann; John Archibald Wheeler; Norbert Wiener; Samuel S. Wilks; Charles P. Winsor
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Digital Object Identifier: doi:10.1214/ss/1076102417
Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet): MR2056571
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