Mary Newton Torrey (February 2, 1910 - January 7, 1998) was an American mathematical statistician and

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...

specialist for

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 scientific development company owned by mult ...

. With

Harold F. Dodge Harold French Dodge (January 23, 1893 in Lowell, Massachusetts – December 10, 1976) was one of the principal architects of the science of statistical quality control. His father was the photographer William H. Dodge. Harold Dodge is univers ...

at Bell Labs, she was an early contributor to the theory of

acceptance sampling Acceptance sampling uses statistical sampling to determine whether to accept or reject a production lot of material. It has been a common quality control technique used in industry. It is usually done as products leave the factory, or in some c ...

. The Dodge–Torrey continuous sampling plans are named after her and Dodge. Torrey was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, and graduated in 1930 from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

as a Durant Scholar (Wellesley's highest honor) with a double major in mathematics and physics. In that year she joined the Quality Assurance Department of Bell Labs. While working there, she earned a master's degree in mathematical statistics from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1946. In 1958, she was elected to be 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 ...

"for her contributions to the theory of sampling inspection, for her able analyses of engineering data, and for her clear and concise presentation of statistical quality control in electronics". She was also a fellow of the

American Society for Quality Control The American Society for Quality (ASQ), formerly the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC), is a society of quality professionals, with nearly 80,000 members. History ASQC was established on 16 February 1946 by 253 members in Milwaukee, ...

. Torrey died on January 7, 1998, at the age of 87.Mary N Torrey
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrey, Mary Newton 1910 births 1998 deaths American statisticians Women statisticians Wellesley College alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Scientists at Bell Labs Fellows of the American Statistical Association