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 Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally refers to specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and ...

. His Ph.D. advisor at the

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 ...

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 Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

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 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. 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 a ...

and

educational psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences i ...

at UIUC until he retired in 1979. Tucker is best known for his

Tucker decomposition In mathematics, Tucker decomposition decomposes a tensor into a set of matrices and one small core tensor. It is named after Ledyard R. Tucker although it goes back to Hitchcock in 1927. Initially described as a three-mode extension of factor ana ...

and Tucker–Koopman–Linn model. He is credited with the invention of Angoff method. In 1957 he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

.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