John Tukey
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John Wilder Tukey (; June 16, 1915 – July 26, 2000) was an American
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and
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 ...
, best known for the development of the fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm and box plot. The
Tukey range test Tukey's range test, also known as Tukey's test, Tukey method, Tukey's honest significance test, or Tukey's HSD (honestly significant difference) test, Also occasionally as "honestly," see e.g. is a single-step multiple comparison procedure and ...
, the Tukey lambda distribution, the Tukey test of additivity, and the Teichmüller–Tukey lemma all bear his name. He is also credited with coining the term '
bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented a ...
' and the first published use of the word '
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...
'.


Biography

Tukey was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1915, to a Latin teacher father and a private tutor. He was mainly taught by his mother and attended regular classes only for certain subjects like French. Tukey obtained a BA in 1936 and
MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...
in 1937 in chemistry, from Brown University, before moving to
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
, where in 1939 he received a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
in mathematics after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "On denumerability in
topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ho ...
". During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Tukey worked at the Fire Control Research Office and collaborated with Samuel Wilks and William Cochran. He is claimed to have helped design the U-2 spy plane. After the war, he returned to Princeton, dividing his time between the university and
AT&T Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...
. In 1962, Tukey was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...
. He became a full professor at 35 and founding chairman of the Princeton statistics department in 1965. Among many contributions to
civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuous ...
that produced a report critiquing the statistical methodology of the Kinsey Report, ''Statistical Problems of the Kinsey Report on Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', which summarised "While much remains to be done, our overall impression of their work to date is favorable". From 1960 to 1980, Tukey helped design the NBC television network polls used to predict and analyze elections. He was also a consultant to the Educational Testing Service, the Xerox Corporation, and Merck & Company. He was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Nixon in 1973. He was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1982 "For his contributions to the spectral analysis of random processes and the
fast Fourier transform A fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an algorithm that computes the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of a sequence, or its inverse (IDFT). Fourier analysis converts a signal from its original domain (often time or space) to a representation in t ...
(FFT)
algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...
". Tukey retired in 1985. He died in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on July 26, 2000.


Scientific contributions

Early in his career Tukey worked on developing statistical methods for computers at
Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
where he invented the term "bit" in 1947. His statistical interests were many and varied. He is particularly remembered for his development with
James Cooley James William Cooley (1926 – June 29, 2016) was an American mathematician. Cooley received a B.A. degree in 1949 from Manhattan College, Bronx, NY, an M.A. degree in 1951 from Columbia University, New York, NY, and a Ph.D. degree in 1961 in app ...
of the Cooley–Tukey FFT algorithm. In 1970, he contributed significantly to what is today known as the jackknife estimation—also termed Quenouille–Tukey jackknife. He introduced the box plot in his 1977 book, "Exploratory Data Analysis". Tukey's range test, the Tukey lambda distribution, Tukey's test of additivity, Tukey's lemma, and the Tukey window all bear his name. He is also the creator of several little-known methods such as the trimean and median-median line, an easier alternative to
linear regression In statistics, linear regression is a linear approach for modelling the relationship between a scalar response and one or more explanatory variables (also known as dependent and independent variables). The case of one explanatory variable is ...
. In 1974, he developed, with Jerome H. Friedman, the concept of the
projection pursuit Projection pursuit (PP) is a type of statistical technique which involves finding the most "interesting" possible projections in multidimensional data. Often, projections which deviate more from a normal distribution are considered to be more inte ...
.


Statistical practice

He also contributed to statistical practice and articulated the important distinction between exploratory data analysis and confirmatory data analysis, believing that much statistical methodology placed too great an emphasis on the latter. Though he believed in the utility of separating the two types of analysis, he pointed out that sometimes, especially in natural science, this was problematic and termed such situations
uncomfortable science Uncomfortable science, as identified by statistician John Tukey, comprises situations in which there is a need to draw an inference from a limited sample of data, where further samples influenced by the same cause system will not be available. More ...
. A. D. Gordon offered the following summary of Tukey's principles for statistical practice: Tukey's lectures were described to be unusual. McCullagh described his lecture given in London in 1977:


Coining the term ''bit''

While working with
John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
on early computer designs, Tukey introduced the word "
bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented a ...
" as a portmanteau of "binary digit". The term "bit" was first used in an article by
Claude Shannon Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer known as a "father of information theory". As a 21-year-old master's degree student at the Massachusetts In ...
in 1948.


See also

* List of pioneers in computer science


Publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * ; ''The collected works of John W Tukey'', edited by William S. Cleveland * * * * * * * * ;About John Tukey *
Interview of John Tukey about his experience at Princeton


References


External links


Royal Society obit. by Peter McCullagh

John W. Tukey: His Life and Professional Contributions
published in ''The Annals of Statistics''
John Wilder Tukey (1915–2000)
in '' Notices of the American Mathematical Society''
Memories of John Tukey


by Mary Bittrich *
"Remembering John W. Tukey"
special issue of '' Statistical Science'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tukey, John Wilder 1915 births 2000 deaths People from Massachusetts National Medal of Science laureates Presidents of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellows of the American Statistical Association IEEE Medal of Honor recipients American statisticians Survey methodologists Exploratory data analysis Princeton University faculty Princeton University alumni Brown University alumni Burials at Princeton Cemetery Foreign Members of the Royal Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American mathematicians