Karl Pearson: The Scientific Life in a Statistical Age

by Theodore M. Porter

Karl Pearson, founder of modern statistics, came to this field by way of passionate early studies of philosophy and cultural history as well as ether physics and graphical geometry. His faith in science grew out of a deeply moral quest, reflected also in his socialism and his efforts to find a new basis for relations between men and women. This biography recounts Pearson's extraordinary intellectual adventure and sheds new light on the inner life of science.


Theodore Porter's intensely personal portrait of Pearson extends from religious crisis and sexual tensions to metaphysical and even mathematical anxieties. Pearson sought to reconcile reason with enthusiasm and to achieve the impersonal perspective of science without sacrificing complex individuality. Even as he longed to experience nature directly and intimately, he identified science with renunciation and positivistic detachment. Porter finds a turning point in Pearson's career, where his humanistic interests gave way to statistical ones, in his Grammar of Science (1892), in which he attempted to establish scientific method as the moral educational basis for a refashioned culture.


In this original and engaging book, a leading historian of modern science investigates the interior experience of one man's scientific life while placing it in a rich tapestry of social, political, and intellectual movements.

Genres: Biography, History, Mathematics

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Andrew Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Focuses on Pearson's early career. Disappointingly little about his achievements in Mathematics.

[Bolin Zhou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about someone cannot be merely stated as a statistician. He is well remembered as a statistician, with Pearson test etc., but his life and most importantly, his three major polarizations are the core of this book.

I am not willing the spoil the details, but I would like to give some extra contents to it.

Nowadays, people started to question the idea of statistical significant, and the so called scientific method of the matter. So the point of those questions is that, you cannot sperate the agenda with its tool you are using. To be more precise, the statistical tools are used with a political, social and testing agenda, with a given hypothesis in mind of the tester.

This creates a huge problem in this, while Karl Pearson tried with an objective method in doing so, but unfortunately it is impossible to take the perception out of the equation, which also leads to the three major polarization of Pearson.

This is not yet solved till today, or even in many areas of studies or research: We could construct many tests and statistics that simply does not make sensor. So to simply critic Pearson with his legacy, or even the "tragedy", which the author prescribed, we should keep in mind of the reasoning behind, let alone the "dilettante" persona Karl had.

Again, if you are expecting a statistician biography, you will be disappointed, but if you are interested in the science history, where the method of objectivity, the usage of scientific method we are known as today, this should be a pleasant read.

[Robert Grossman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written biography of an interesting and influential statistician.