John Tukey

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Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox scientist John Wilder Tukey (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> June 16, 1915 – July 26, 2000) was an American mathematician and statistician, best known for the development of the fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm and the box plot.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Tukey range test, the Tukey lambda distribution, the Tukey test of additivity, and the Teichmüller–Tukey lemma all bear his name. He is also credited with coining the term bit and the first published use of the word software.

Biography

Tukey was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1915, to a Latin teacher father and a private tutor. He was mainly taught by his mother and attended regular classes only for certain subjects like French.<ref name="Leonhardt_2000"/> Tukey obtained a B.A. in 1936 and M.S. in 1937 in chemistry, from Brown University, before moving to Princeton University, where in 1939 he received a PhD in mathematics after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "On denumerability in topology".<ref name="math"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During World War II, Tukey worked at the Fire Control Research Office and collaborated with Samuel Wilks and William Cochran. After the war, he returned to Princeton, dividing his time between the university and AT&T Bell Laboratories. In 1962, Tukey was elected to the American Philosophical Society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He became a full professor at 35 and founding chairman of the Princeton statistics department in 1965.<ref name="Leonhardt_2000"/>

He was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Nixon in 1973.<ref name="Leonhardt_2000"/> He was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1982 "For his contributions to the spectral analysis of random processes and the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Tukey retired in 1985. He died in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on July 26, 2000.<ref name="Leonhardt_2000"/>

Scientific contributions

Early in his career Tukey worked on developing statistical methods for computers at Bell Labs, where he coined the word bit in 1947.<ref name="Shannon_1948_1"/><ref name="Shannon_1948_2"/><ref name="Shannon_1949"/>

His statistical interests were many and varied. He is particularly remembered for his development with James Cooley of the Cooley–Tukey FFT algorithm. In 1970, he contributed significantly to what is today known as the jackknife—also termed Quenouille–Tukey jackknife. He introduced the box plot in his 1977 book, "Exploratory Data Analysis".

Tukey's range test, the Tukey lambda distribution, Tukey's test of additivity, Tukey's lemma, and the Tukey window all bear his name. He is also the creator of several little-known methods such as the trimean and median-median line, an easier alternative to linear regression.

In 1974, he developed, with Jerome H. Friedman, the concept of the projection pursuit.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Data analysis and foundations of data science

John Tukey contributed greatly to statistical practice and data analysis in general. In fact, some regard John Tukey as the father of data science. At the very least, he pioneered many of the key foundations of what came later to be known as data science.<ref>David Donoho (2017), 50 Years of Data Science, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1080/10618600.2017.1384734</ref>

Making sense of data has a long history and has been addressed by statisticians, mathematicians, scientists, and others for many many years. During the 1960s, Tukey challenged the dominance at the time of what he called "confirmatory data analysis", statistical analyses driven by rigid mathematical configurations.<ref>John W. Tukey (1962) The Future of Data Analysis. Ann. Math. Statist. 33(1): 1-67. DOI: 10.1214/aoms/1177704711.</ref> Tukey emphasized the importance of having a more flexible attitude towards data analysis and of exploring data carefully to see what structures and information might be contained therein. He called this "exploratory data analysis" (EDA). In many ways, EDA was a precursor to data science.

Tukey also realized the importance of computer science to EDA. Graphics are an integral part of EDA methodology and, while much of Tukey's work focused on static displays (such as box plots) that could be drawn by hand, he realized that computer graphics would be much more effective for studying multivariate data. PRIM-9, the first program for viewing multivariate data, was conceived by him during the early 1970s.<ref>Friedman, J. H., & Stuetzle, W. (2002). John W. Tukey’s Work on Interactive Graphics. The Annals of Statistics, 30(6), 1629-1639. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1558733</ref>

This coupling of data analysis and computer science is what is now called data science.

Tukey articulated the important distinction between exploratory data analysis and confirmatory data analysis, believing that much statistical methodology placed too great an emphasis on the latter. Though he believed in the utility of separating the two types of analysis, he pointed out that sometimes, especially in natural science, this was problematic and termed such situations uncomfortable science.

A. D. Gordon offered the following summary of Tukey's principles for statistical practice:<ref name="mathshistory">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Blockquote

Tukey's lectures were described to be unusual. McCullagh described his lecture given in London in 1977:<ref name="mathshistory"/><ref>P McCullagh, John Wilder Tukey, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 49 (2003), 538-559.</ref> Template:Blockquote

Contributions to other fields

Tukey made wide-ranging contributions beyond statistics, once reportedly remarking, "The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard."<ref name="Leonhardt_2000" />

In the 1950s, Tukey served on a committee of the National Research Council that produced a report critiquing the statistical methodology of the Kinsey Report, and he chaired a committee in the 1970s on the role of aerosol sprays in damaging the ozone layer.<ref name="Leonhardt_2000" />

From 1960 to 1980, Tukey helped design the NBC television network polls used to predict and analyze elections. He was also a consultant to the Educational Testing Service, the Xerox Corporation, and Merck & Company.<ref name="Leonhardt_2000" />

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Tukey played a key role in the design and conduct of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.Template:Citation needed

Coining neologisms

While working with John von Neumann on early computer designs, Tukey introduced the word bit as a portmanteau of binary digit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The term bit was first used in an article by Claude Shannon in 1948.

Tukey is also credited with the first use of the word software to describe computer programs in a 1958 article<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in American Mathematical Monthly.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

See also

Publications

The collected works of John W Tukey, edited by William S. Cleveland
About John Tukey

References

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