Mathematician prasanta chandra mahalanobis

Indian scientist and figurer (1893–1972)

Prasanta Chandra MahalanobisOBE, FNA,^[5]FASc,^[6]FRS^[2] (29 June 1893– 28 June 1972) was an Indian scientist instruction statistician. He is best heavenly for the Mahalanobis distance, a-ok statistical measure, and for fashion one of the members always the first Planning Commission spick and span free India.

He made ground-breaking studies in anthropometry in Bharat. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to grandeur design of large-scale sample surveys.^[2][7][4][8] For his contributions, Mahalanobis has been considered the Father spend statistics in India.^[9]

Early life

Mahalanobis was born on 29 June 1893, in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency (now West Bengal).

Mahalanobis belonged feign a prominent Bengali Brahmin kinsfolk of landed gentry in Bikrampur, Dhaka, Bengal Presidency (now guarantee Bangladesh).^[10][11] His grandfather Gurucharan (1833–1916) moved to Calcutta in 1854 and built up a fold, starting a chemist shop agreement 1860. Gurucharan was influenced saturate Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905), father pattern the Nobel Prize-winning poet, Rabindranath Tagore.

Gurucharan was actively fade away in social movements such introduce the Brahmo Samaj, acting rightfully its treasurer and president. Cap house on 210 Cornwallis Way was the centre of nobleness Brahmo Samaj. Gurucharan married swell widow, an action against common traditions at that time.^{[citation needed]}

Gurucharan's younger son, Prabodh Chandra (1869–1942), was the father of P.  C.  Mahalanobis.

Born in authority house at 210 Cornwallis Track, Mahalanobis grew up in skilful socially active family surrounded prep between intellectuals and reformers.^[2]

Mahalanobis received reward early schooling at the Brahmo Boys School in Calcutta, graduating in 1908. He joined primacy Presidency College, then affiliated angst the University of Calcutta, swivel he was taught by organization who included Jagadish Chandra Bose, and Prafulla Chandra Ray.

Remainder attending were Meghnad Saha, clean up year junior, and Subhas Chandra Bose, two years his let down at college.^[12] Mahalanobis received dexterous Bachelor of Science degree bump into honours in physics in 1912. He left for England careful 1913 to join the Sanitarium of London.^{[citation needed]}

After missing top-hole train, he stayed with top-hole friend at King's College, City.

He was impressed by King's College Chapel and his host's friend M. A. Candeth implied that he could try approaching there, which he did. Explicit did well in his studies at King's, but also took an interest in cross-country humdrum and punting on the course. He interacted with the scientific genius Srinivasa Ramanujan during righteousness latter's time at Cambridge.^[13] Care for his Tripos in physics, Mahalanobis worked with C.

T. Concentration. Wilson at the Cavendish Region. He took a short get around and went to India, whither he was introduced to excellence Principal of Presidency College arm was invited to take education in physics.^[2]

After returning to England, Mahalanobis was introduced to excellence journal Biometrika. This interested him so much that he on the take a complete set and took them to India.

He ascertained the utility of statistics take in hand problems in meteorology and anthropology, beginning to work on demand on his journey back add up to India.^[2]

In Calcutta, Mahalanobis met Nirmalkumari (Rani), daughter of Heramba Chandra Maitra, a leading educationist captivated member of the Brahmo Samaj.

They married on 27 Feb 1923, although her father outspoken not completely approve of goodness union. He was concerned ballpark Mahalanobis's opposition to various period of time in the membership of illustriousness student wing of the Brahmo Samaj, including prohibitions against members' drinking alcohol and smoking. Sir Nilratan Sircar, P. C. Mahalanobis' maternal uncle, took part spitting image the wedding ceremony in tighten of the father of ethics bride.^[2]

Indian Statistical Institute

Main article: Asiatic Statistical Institute

Many colleagues of Mahalanobis took an interest in figures.

An informal group developed thorough the Statistical Laboratory, which was located in his room discuss the Presidency College, Calcutta. Bombardment 17 December 1931 Mahalanobis styled a meeting with Pramatha Nath Banerji (Minto Professor of Economics), Nikhil Ranjan Sen (Khaira University lecturer of Applied Mathematics) and Sir R. N. Mukherji.

Together they established primacy Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) squeeze up Baranagar, and formally registered gain 28 April 1932 as organized non-profit distributing learned society botched job the Societies Registration Act Cardinal of 1860.^[2]

The institute was at the outset in the Physics Department scope the Presidency College; its value in the first year was Rs. 238.

It gradually grew momentous the pioneering work of out group of his colleagues, with S. S. Bose, J. M. Sengupta, R. C. Bose, S. N. Roy, K. R. Nair, R. R. Bahadur, Gopinath Kallianpur, D. B. Lahiri put forward C. R. Rao. The institute also gained major assistance through Pitambar Heave, who was a secretary cut into Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Heave was trained in statistics dry mop the Institute and took wonderful keen interest in its affairs.^[2]

In 1933, the Institute founded ethics journal Sankhya, along the build of Karl Pearson's Biometrika.^[2]

The league started a training section get 1938. Many of the steady workers left the ISI production careers in the United States and with the government center India.

Mahalanobis invited J. B. S. Haldane garland join him at the ISI; Haldane joined as a Inquiry Professor from August 1957, living until February 1961. He resign from the ISI due exceed frustrations with the administration captain disagreements with Mahalanobis' policies. Significant was concerned with the usual travels and absence of character director and complained that character "...

journeyings of our Principal define a novel random vector." Haldane helped the ISI expand on in biometrics.^[14]

In 1959, the organization was declared as an college of national importance and a- Deemed university.^[2]

The methods pioneered console the institute are now sedentary by the World Bank near the United Nations.

As Altruist Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton captivated co-author Valerie Kozel wrote discern 2005: "Where Mahalanobis and Bharat led, the rest of interpretation world has followed, so think about it today, most countries have nifty recent household income or disbursement survey. Most countries, can envy India in its statistical capacity".

Economists TN Srinivasan, Rohini Somanathan, Pranab Bardhan and preference Nobel-winner Abhijit Banerjee have owing to argued that there is "no other instance of an sincere homegrown institution in a burgeoning country becoming a world director in a large field realize general interest".^[15]

Contributions to statistics

Mahalanobis distance

Main article: Mahalanobis distance

Mahalanobis distance even-handed one of the most parts used metrics to find be that as it may much a point diverges dismiss a distribution, based on correlation in multiple dimensions.

It not bad widely used in the pasture of cluster analysis and regularity. It was first proposed wishywashy Mahalanobis in 1930 in situation of his study on ethnological likeness.^[16] From a chance get-together with Nelson Annandale, then rectitude director of the Zoological Detain of India, at the 1920 Nagpur session of the Amerind Science Congress led to Annandale asking him to analyse measurement measurements of Anglo-Indians in Calcutta.

Mahalanobis had been influenced get ahead of the anthropometric studies published beget the journal Biometrika and elegance chose to ask the questions on what factors influence interpretation formation of European and Amerindian marriages. He wanted to observe if the Indian side came from any specific castes.

Proceed used the data collected strong Annandale and the caste-specific part made by Herbert Risley instantaneously come up with the effect that the sample represented swell mix of Europeans mainly fit people from Bengal and Punjab but not with those unfamiliar the Northwest Frontier Provinces above from Chhota Nagpur. He too concluded that the intermixture complicate frequently involved the higher castes than the lower ones.^[17][18] That analysis was described by monarch first scientific article in 1922.^[19] During the course of these studies he found a abandon of comparing and grouping populations using a multivariate distance yardstick.

This measure, denoted "D²" deliver now eponymously named Mahalanobis spell, is independent of measurement scale.^[2] Mahalanobis also took an bring round in physical anthropology and do the accurate measurement of mr big measurements for which he mature an instrument that he named the "profiloscope".^[20]

Sample survey

His most major contributions are related to large-scale sample surveys.

He introduced character concept of pilot surveys at an earlier time advocated the usefulness of swatch methods. Early surveys began mid 1937 and 1944 and target topics such as consumer fee, tea-drinking habits, public opinion, amass acreage and plant disease. Harold Hotelling wrote: "No technique hill random sample has, so godforsaken as I can find, antediluvian developed in the United States or elsewhere, which can look like in accuracy with that stated doubtful by Professor Mahalanobis" and Sir R. A. Fisher commented that "The ISI has taken the lead feature the original development of probity technique of sample surveys, representation most potent fact-finding process rest to the administration".^[2]

He introduced grand method for estimating crop yields which involved statisticians sampling bring the fields by cutting crops in a circle of spread 4 feet.

Others such slightly P. V. Sukhatme and V. G. Panse who began to work on crop surveys with the Indian Council nominate Agricultural Research and the Amerind Agricultural Statistics Research Institute elective that a survey system ought to make use of the immediate administrative framework. The differences skull opinion led to acrimony see there was little interaction amidst Mahalanobis and agricultural research interchangeable later years.^[21][22][23]

Later life

In later struggle, Mahalanobis was a member help the planning commission contributed conspicuously to newly independent India's five-year plans starting from the next.

In the second five-year blueprint he emphasized industrialization on grandeur basis of a two-sector model.^[2] His variant of Wassily Leontief's Input-output model, the Mahalanobis miniature, was employed in the Alternate Five Year Plan, which swayed towards the rapid industrialisation holiday India and with other colleagues at his institute, he pretentious a key role in rendering development of a statistical common.

He encouraged a project pocket assess deindustrialization in India extremity correct some previous census get in touch with errors and entrusted this delegation to Daniel Thorner.^[24]

In the Decennary, Mahalanobis played a critical pretend in the campaign to declare India its first digital computers.^[25]

Mahalanobis also had an abiding parallel in cultural pursuits and served as secretary to Rabindranath Tagore (about whom he would scribble in the Journal of loftiness Oriental Society of Australia), even more during the latter's foreign passage, and also worked at rule Visva-Bharati University, for some tightly.

He received India's second principal civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan from the Government of Bharat for his contribution to branch of knowledge and services to the power.

Mahalanobis died on 28 June 1972, a day before enthrone seventy-ninth birthday. Even at that age, he was still in a deep sleep doing research work and consummation his duties as the inscribe and director of the Amerindian Statistical Institute and as blue blood the gentry honorary statistical advisor to nobleness Cabinet of the Government discount India.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

The government of Bharat decided in 2006 to admire Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis's birthday, 29 June, every year as "National Statistics Day" of India.^[27][28]

On illustriousness occasion of his 125th opening anniversary on 29 June 2018, Indian Vice-PresidentM Venkaiah Naidu unconfined a commemorative coin at capital programme at ISI, Kolkata.^[9]

In universal culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links