Leon Isserlis (1881–1966) was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

n-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

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 ...

known for his work on the exact

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

of sample moments, including

Isserlis’ theorem In probability theory, Isserlis' theorem or Wick's probability theorem is a formula that allows one to compute higher-order moments of the multivariate normal distribution in terms of its covariance matrix. It is named after Leon Isserlis. Thi ...

. He also brought to the attention of

statisticians 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 ...

the work of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

mathematicians and statisticians, including

Chebyshev Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev ( rus, Пафну́тий Льво́вич Чебышёв, p=pɐfˈnutʲɪj ˈlʲvovʲɪtɕ tɕɪbɨˈʂof) ( – ) was a Russian mathematician and considered to be the founding father of Russian mathematics. Chebysh ...

and Chuprov. He was born in

Bohuslav Bohuslav ( uk, Богуслав, yi, באָסלעוו or ''Boslov'') is a city on the Ros River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. Population: . It hosts the administration of Bohuslav urban hromada, one of the hromadas of U ...

near

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

in June 1881 and was a direct descendant of the eminent

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Moses Isserles ). He is not to be confused with Meir Abulafia, known as "Ramah" ( he, רמ״ה, italic=no, links=no), nor with Menahem Azariah da Fano, known as "Rema MiPano" ( he, רמ״ע מפאנו, italic=no, links=no). Rabbi Moses Isserles ( he, משה ...

. He moved to Britain when he was ten years old with his widowed mother, an elder brother and two sisters. He attended the

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , special ...

and won an open

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

to study mathematics at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

. Upon leaving Cambridge in 1904 he was appointed head of mathematics at the West Ham Municipal Technical Institute (one of the forerunners of the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

). He also registered as a research student at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, where he studied under

Karl Pearson Karl Pearson (; born Carl Pearson; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an English mathematician and biostatistician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world's first university st ...

, and was awarded a D.Sc. in 1916. In March 1920 he moved to become statistician to the

Chamber of Shipping The UK Chamber of Shipping is the trade association and voice of the UK shipping industry, representing around 200 member companies. They work with Government, parliament, international organisations and others to champion and protect the industry ...

and remained there until his retirement in 1942, when his position as statistician was taken by

Maurice Kendall Sir Maurice George Kendall, FBA (6 September 1907 – 29 March 1983) was a prominent British statistician. The Kendall tau rank correlation is named after him. Education and early life Maurice Kendall was born in Kettering, Northampton ...

. In 1926 he wrote a review for the

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society The ''Journal of the Royal Statistical Society'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of statistics. It comprises three series and is published by Wiley for the Royal Statistical Society. History The Statistical Society of London was founde ...

R. A. Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathem ...

's seminal book ''

Statistical Methods for Research Workers ''Statistical Methods for Research Workers'' is a classic book on statistics, written by the statistician R. A. Fisher. It is considered by some to be one of the 20th century's most influential books on statistical methods, together with his '' ...

''. The review was rather critical, particularly of Fisher's lack of references to earlier work by others such as Chebyshev. He was a friend of

Major Greenwood Major Greenwood FRS (9 August 1880 – 5 October 1949) was an English epidemiologist and statistician. Biography Major Greenwood junior was born in Shoreditch in London's East End, the only child of Major Greenwood, a physician in general pr ...

and worked with him on statistical issues for the Medical Research Council, although most of this work was anonymous and unpublished. He was also chairman of the

Jewish Health Organization Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

from 1931 to 1939. He served as secretary of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

in 1934–35 and again in 1944–45, and was awarded its

Guy Medal The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Silver and Bronze medals are awarded annually. The Gold Medal was awarded every three years between 1987 and 2011, but is awarded bienni ...

in Silver in 1939.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Isserlis, Leon 1881 births 1966 deaths British statisticians British Jews Alumni of University College London Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom