Esther Seiden ( he, אסתר זיידן; March 9, 1908 – June 3, 2014) was a mathematical statistician known for her research on the

design of experiments The design of experiments (DOE, DOX, or experimental design) is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. The term is generally associ ...

and

combinatorial design Combinatorial design theory is the part of combinatorial mathematics that deals with the existence, construction and properties of systems of finite sets whose arrangements satisfy generalized concepts of ''balance'' and/or ''symmetry''. These co ...

theory. In the study of

finite geometry Finite is the opposite of infinite. It may refer to: * Finite number (disambiguation) * Finite set, a set whose cardinality (number of elements) is some natural number * Finite verb, a verb form that has a subject, usually being inflected or marked ...

, she introduced the concept of the complement of an

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

, and her work with

Rita Zemach Rita B. Zemach (née Dresner, April 3, 1926 – June 8, 2015) was an American statistician who worked for the Michigan Department of Public Health, and helped promote women in statistics. Early life and education Rita Dresner started her underg ...

orthogonal array In mathematics, an orthogonal array is a "table" (array) whose entries come from a fixed finite set of symbols (typically, ), arranged in such a way that there is an integer ''t'' so that for every selection of ''t'' columns of the table, all order ...

s of strength four was described as "the first significant progress" on the subject.

Early life and education

Seiden was born to a Polish-speaking Jewish middle-class family in

West Galicia New Galicia or West Galicia ( pl, Nowa Galicja or ''Galicja Zachodnia'', german: Neugalizien or ''Westgalizien'') was an administrative region of the Habsburg monarchy, constituted from the territory annexed in the course of the Third Partition ...

, and educated at a

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

gymnasium in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. Against her father's wishes, she went into mathematics. She began her university studies at the

University of Kraków The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

but moved after a year to

Stefan Batory University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, where an uncle was a high school mathematics teacher. There, as well as pure mathematics, she also studied physics and

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of for ...

. Although she planned a teaching career with the master's degree she earned, her instructors provided support to continue her studies for another year. By that time, violence between anti-Jewish student groups and Jewish counter-protesters in Vilnius had led to the death of a student, so she was sent away to the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

, where she studied logic with

Alfred Tarski Alfred Tarski (, born Alfred Teitelbaum;School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews ''School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews''. January 14, 1901 – October 26, 1983) was a Polish-American logician a ...

and

Stanisław Leśniewski Stanisław Leśniewski (30 March 1886 – 13 May 1939) was a Polish mathematician, philosopher and logician. Life He was born on 28 March 1886 at Serpukhov, near Moscow, to father Izydor, an engineer working on the construction of the Trans-Sibe ...

Activism in Palestine

After completing her studies, Seiden became a schoolteacher at a Jewish school from 1932 to 1934. By this time, she had long felt like a second-class citizen in Europe and wished to move to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. With the help of recommendations from Tarski and one of her Vilnius professors, she obtained admission to the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, which allowed her to move there in 1935. In Palestine, she continued her work as a teacher, and studied mathematics at the Hebrew University under

Abraham Fraenkel Abraham Fraenkel ( he, אברהם הלוי (אדולף) פרנקל; February 17, 1891 – October 15, 1965) was a German-born Israeli mathematician. He was an early Zionist and the first Dean of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. ...

. However, her interest in mathematics diminished as she became involved in the paramilitary

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

and then worked in the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

during World War II.

Statistics

At the end of the war, Seiden came to work for the Palestine Census of Industry and began studying statistics under

Aryeh Dvoretzky Aryeh (Arie) Dvoretzky ( he, אריה דבורצקי, russian: Арье Дворецкий; May 3, 1916 – May 8, 2008) was a Russian-born Israeli mathematician, the winner of the 1973 Israel Prize in Mathematics. He is best known for his w ...

. On the recommendation of Tarski, she entered graduate study in statistics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1947 as an assistant to

Jerzy Neyman Jerzy Neyman (April 16, 1894 – August 5, 1981; born Jerzy Spława-Neyman; ) was a Polish mathematician and statistician who spent the first part of his professional career at various institutions in Warsaw, Poland and then at University College ...

. She began her work in experimental design, a topic she came to through lectures from Berkeley visitor

Raj Chandra Bose Raj Chandra Bose (19 June 1901 – 31 October 1987) was an Indian American mathematician and statistician best known for his work in design theory, finite geometry and the theory of error-correcting codes in which the class of BCH codes is par ...

. She completed her Ph.D. in 1949. Her dissertation, supervised by Neyman, was ''On a problem of confounding in symmetrical factorial design. Contribution to the theory of tests of composite hypotheses''. After shorter positions on the faculties of the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, and the

Indian Statistical Institute Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...

, she moved to

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in 1960. She retired from Michigan State in 1978, only to return to the Hebrew University as a faculty member, and she remained active at the Hebrew University for many more years.

Recognition

In 1976, Seiden was elected as a member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

. She was also a Fellow of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seiden, Esther 1908 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American statisticians Israeli mathematicians Israeli statisticians 20th-century Polish women 20th-century Polish Jews Polish statisticians American women mathematicians Israeli women mathematicians Polish women mathematicians 20th-century Polish mathematicians 21st-century Polish mathematicians Women statisticians Vilnius University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University at Buffalo faculty University of Chicago faculty American University faculty Northwestern University faculty Michigan State University faculty Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics 20th-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women academics