Gunnar Kulldorff (6 December 1927 – 25 June 2015) was a Swedish
statistician
A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...
, specializing in
estimation theory
Estimation theory is a branch of statistics that deals with estimating the values of parameters based on measured empirical data that has a random component. The parameters describe an underlying physical setting in such a way that their valu ...
,
survey sampling In statistics, survey sampling describes the process of selecting a sample of elements from a target population to conduct a survey.
The term "survey" may refer to many different types or techniques of observation. In survey sampling it most often ...
and
order statistics
In statistics, the ''k''th order statistic of a statistical sample is equal to its ''k''th-smallest value. Together with rank statistics, order statistics are among the most fundamental tools in non-parametric statistics and inference.
Importa ...
. From 1989 to 1991, he was the president 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 ...
.
Biography
Early life
Gunnar Kulldorff was born in
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
, Sweden on 6 December 1927, as the son of Erik and Ebba Kulldorff. In 1946, he entered
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...
and
mechanics
Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects r ...
, obtaining his bachelor's degree in 1949.Inbjudning till doktorspromotionen vid Lunds Universitet, 1961, p.61
Scientific career
In 1954 Kulldorff earned a licentiate degree from the Department of Statistics at
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion Taking a teaching positions in the same department, he did his doctoral studies under the supervision of Carl-Erik Quensel and
. Kulldorff's research led to a PhD in 1961 for his thesis "Contributions to the Theory of Estimation from Grouped and Partially Grouped Samples".Kulldorff, 1961 His thesis was republished by
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in p ...
as well as by the Soviet Union in a Russian translation. In a review for the
Journal of the American Statistical Association
The ''Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA)'' is the primary journal published by the American Statistical Association, the main professional body for statisticians in the United States. It is published four times a year in March, ...
,
W. Edwards Deming
William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical ...
wrote that '' "here is a book that faces reality, carrying the reader, in a modest 144 pages, on a wondrous excursion into the problems of grouped data, in which the reader cannot fail to catch the contagious enthusiasm of the author" ''.
In 1965, Kulldorff was appointed as the first professor of statistics at the newly established
Umeå University
Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami: ) is a public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present borders.
As of 2015 ...
, where he also became the first
dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 1966, he was appointed professor of
mathematical statistics
Mathematical statistics is the application of probability theory, a branch of mathematics, to statistics, as opposed to techniques for collecting statistical data. Specific mathematical techniques which are used for this include mathematical an ...
, a position he held until retirement.Svensk Biografisk Handbok, 1993, p.607 During this time, he wrote papers on survey sampling and the optimum combinations of selected order statistics from various well known parametric distributions, in order to draw inference on population parameters.
Kulldorff was president of the Swedish Statistical Society 1968-69 and 1985–87, and a member of the
Statistics Sweden
Statistics Sweden ( sv, Statistiska centralbyrån ; SCB) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsib ...
Scientific Advisory Board from 1988 to 2002. He was president of the Swedish professors union from 1978 to 1980.M Kulldorff, 8 July 2015
International Statistical Work
A large portion of Kulldorff's work was devoted to the promotion of statistics at the international level. He was a guest researcher at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
(1970),
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
(1971),
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
(1971), the
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
(1977), the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
(1983) and the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.
Elected to 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 ...
in 1968, Kulldorff served as vice president of the organization from 1981 to 1985, president elect from 1987 to 1989 and president from 1989 to 1991. Around this time, he made many trips to support statistics in Africa, Asia and Latin America.M Kulldorff, 8 July 2015
In 1991, just after their independence, Kulldorff visited the Baltic countries. Seeing a need for knowledge and education about survey statistics, which had been underdeveloped during the Soviet era, he initiated a scientific exchange program between the Baltic and Nordic countries. A few years later, this led to the creation of the Baltic-Nordic-Ukrainian Network on Survey Statistics, with annual conferences, workshops and/or summer schools. In 2006, he received an honorary doctorate from
Vilnius 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 ...
in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
.
YMCA Activities
From an early age, Kulldorff was an active scout and scout leader in Malmö YMCA, leading to a long commitment to the organization. He was a board member (1954–66) and vice president (1962–66) of YMCA Sweden, where he played a key role in joining YMCA and YWCA into one organization, YWCA-YMCA of Sweden. From 1957 to 1966, he was a member of the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
International Board, and in the 1970s he was president of the local YMCA chapter in
Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, Umeà ...