Ledyard R. Tucker (19 September 1910 – 16 August 2004) was an American mathematician who specialized in

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 psychometrics. His Ph.D. advisor at the University of Chicago was

Louis Leon Thurstone Louis Leon Thurstone (29 May 1887 – 29 September 1955) was an American pioneer in the fields of psychometrics and psychophysics. He conceived the approach to measurement known as the law of comparative judgment, and is well known for his cont ...

. He was a lecturer in psychology at Princeton University from 1948 to 1960, while simultaneously working at

ETS ETS or ets may refer to: Climate change, environment and economy * Emissions trading scheme ** European Union Emission Trading Scheme Organisations * European Thermoelectric Society * Evangelical Theological Society Education * École de techno ...

. In 1960, he moved to working full-time in academia when he joined the University of Illinois. The rest of his career was spent as professor of

quantitative psychology Quantitative psychology is a field of scientific study that focuses on the mathematical modeling, research design and methodology, and statistical analysis of psychological processes. It includes tests and other devices for measuring cognitive ab ...

and educational psychology at UIUC until he retired in 1979. Tucker is best known for his Tucker decomposition and Tucker–Koopman–Linn model. He is credited with the invention of

Angoff method Angoff is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Charles Angoff (1902–1979), American journalist ** Charles Angoff Award *William H. Angoff William H. Angoff (September 14, 1919 – January 5, 1993) was an American research scient ...

. In 1957 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.View/Search Fellows of the ASA
accessed 2016-07-23. He died at his home in

Savoy, Illinois Savoy is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,857 at the 2020 census. History The village was named after Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy, who had paid the area a visit in 1861. Henry M. Dunlap (1853-1938) ...

, on August 16, 2004, aged 93.

Selected publications

References

A Conversation with Ledyard R Tucker
by Neil J. Dorans
Remembering Ledyard R Tucker
by Tom Stewart {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Ledyard 1910 births 2004 deaths University of Colorado alumni University of Chicago alumni Intelligence researchers 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American statisticians People from Glenwood Springs, Colorado Fellows of the American Statistical Association People from Savoy, Illinois Mathematicians from Colorado Mathematicians from Illinois