Elizabeth Leonard Scott (November 23, 1917 – December 20, 1988) 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 ...

specializing in

statistic A statistic (singular) or sample statistic is any quantity computed from values in a sample which is considered for a statistical purpose. Statistical purposes include estimating a population parameter, describing a sample, or evaluating a hypot ...

s. Scott was born in

Fort Sill, Oklahoma Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark an ...

. Her family moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

when she was 4 years old. She attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

where she studied

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. She earned her Ph.D. in 1949 in

, and received a permanent position in the Department of Mathematics at Berkeley in 1951. She wrote over 30 papers on astronomy and 30 on

weather modification Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rainfall or snowfall, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water su ...

research analysis, incorporating and expanding the use of statistical analyses in these fields. She also used statistics to promote equal opportunities and equal pay for female academics. In 1957 Scott noted a bias in the observation of

galaxy clusters A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Clusters consist of galax ...

. She noticed that for an observer to find a very distant cluster, it must contain brighter-than-normal galaxies and must also contain a large number of galaxies. She proposed a correction formula to adjust for (what came to be known as) the Scott effect. Scott was a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. The

Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) comprises the presidents, past presidents and presidents-elect of the following, primarily Northern American, professional societies of statisticians: * American Statistical Association * ...

awards a prize in her honor, the Elizabeth L. Scott Award, for "fostering opportunities in statistics for women".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Elizabeth 1917 births 1988 deaths American statisticians American women statisticians Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Presidents of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American women mathematicians University of California, Berkeley alumni