Joseph Oscar Irwin
Encyclopedia
Joseph Oscar IrwinBritish statistician
who advanced the use of statistical methods in biological assay and other fields of laboratory medicine. Irwin’s grasp of modern mathematical statistics distinguished him not only from older medical statisticians like Major Greenwood
but contemporaries like Austin Bradford Hill
.
Oscar Irwin was born in London
. He attended the City of London School
where he specialized in classics
and then at a late date in mathematics. In December 1917 he won a scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge
to read mathematics. A serious illness disqualified him from war service but he spent a year computing anti-aircraft trajectories for Karl Pearson
. When Irwin graduated from Cambridge in 1921 he joined Pearson’s department of applied statistics which had returned to its normal activities. Irwin published his first work there, including his 1927 paper on the distribution of means.
In 1928 Irwin moved to Rothamsted Experimental Station
and he stayed there until 1931. His old boss Pearson and his new boss R. A. Fisher were bitter enemies but Irwin's conciliatory nature allowed him to remain on good terms with both men. At Rothamsted he continued to work on mathematical statistics and he became one of the first people to master Fisher's innovations. Fisher made few concessions to his readers: see Barnard's
well-known "you are a mathematician, work it out" story. Irwin made an important contribution to the dissemination of Fisher's ideas by writing expository pieces. In his appreciation Greenberg recalls the mathematical statisticians R. C. Bose
and S. N. Roy
telling him how by reading Irwin they been able to understand Fisher. Another valuable educational project was the series of papers "Recent Advances in Mathematical Statistics" which Irwin inaugurated in 1931.
From 1931 until he retired in 1965 Irwin worked for the Medical Research Council
at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Besides doing his own research he was a consultant on technical statistical matters. There was a break in the Second World War when Irwin was responsible for the teaching of statistics at Cambridge. For many mathematicians, including Lindley
, Armitage
, and Kempthorne
, the course of Irwin was the first step to becoming statisticians.
At the MRC Irwin wrote a series of important papers on bioassay. An important theoretical contribution was his 1935 paper on "Fisher's exact test". Irwin had done the work in 1933, apparently preceding the better known work of Fisher and Yates. After the war Irwin embarked on a number of long-term collaborative studies, often for official committees. These were applied studies but he continued to work on more mathematical problems, e.g. he produced a series of papers on the Generalized Waring Distribution.
Oscar Irwin received many honours and served as president of the Royal Statistical Society
in 1962–64; he had played an important part in the affairs of the society for many years.
Greeenberg has described the man
For Irwin’s correspondence with Fisher see
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
who advanced the use of statistical methods in biological assay and other fields of laboratory medicine. Irwin’s grasp of modern mathematical statistics distinguished him not only from older medical statisticians like Major Greenwood
Major Greenwood
Major Greenwood FRS was an English epidemiologist and statistician.Major Greenwood junior was born in Shoreditch in London's East End, the only child of a doctor in general practice there...
but contemporaries like Austin Bradford Hill
Austin Bradford Hill
Sir Austin Bradford Hill FRS , English epidemiologist and statistician, pioneered the randomized clinical trial and, together with Richard Doll, was the first to demonstrate the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer...
.
Oscar Irwin was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He attended the City of London School
City of London School
The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...
where he specialized in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and then at a late date in mathematics. In December 1917 he won a scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
to read mathematics. A serious illness disqualified him from war service but he spent a year computing anti-aircraft trajectories for Karl Pearson
Karl Pearson
Karl Pearson FRS was an influential English mathematician who has been credited for establishing the disciplineof mathematical statistics....
. When Irwin graduated from Cambridge in 1921 he joined Pearson’s department of applied statistics which had returned to its normal activities. Irwin published his first work there, including his 1927 paper on the distribution of means.
In 1928 Irwin moved to Rothamsted Experimental Station
Rothamsted Experimental Station
The Rothamsted Experimental Station, one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, is located at Harpenden in Hertfordshire, England. It is now known as Rothamsted Research...
and he stayed there until 1931. His old boss Pearson and his new boss R. A. Fisher were bitter enemies but Irwin's conciliatory nature allowed him to remain on good terms with both men. At Rothamsted he continued to work on mathematical statistics and he became one of the first people to master Fisher's innovations. Fisher made few concessions to his readers: see Barnard's
George Alfred Barnard
George Alfred Barnard was a British statistician known particularly for his work on the foundations of statistics and on quality control.-Biography:...
well-known "you are a mathematician, work it out" story. Irwin made an important contribution to the dissemination of Fisher's ideas by writing expository pieces. In his appreciation Greenberg recalls the mathematical statisticians R. C. Bose
Raj Chandra Bose
Raj Chandra Bose was an Indian mathematician and statistician best known for his work in design theory and the theory of error-correcting codes in which the class of BCH codes is partly named after him. He was notable for his work along with S. S. Shrikhande and E. T...
and S. N. Roy
S. N. Roy
Samarendra Nath Roy or S. N. Roy was an Indian-born American mathematician and an applied statistician. He was the first of two children of Kali Nath Roy and Suniti Bala Roy. His father, Kali Nath Roy was a freedom fighter and the Chief Editor of the newspaper TRIBUNE.Prof. Roy had a brilliant...
telling him how by reading Irwin they been able to understand Fisher. Another valuable educational project was the series of papers "Recent Advances in Mathematical Statistics" which Irwin inaugurated in 1931.
From 1931 until he retired in 1965 Irwin worked for the Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Besides doing his own research he was a consultant on technical statistical matters. There was a break in the Second World War when Irwin was responsible for the teaching of statistics at Cambridge. For many mathematicians, including Lindley
Dennis Lindley
Dennis Victor Lindley is a British statistician, decision theorist and leading advocate of Bayesian statistics.Dennis Lindley grew up in the south-west London suburb of Surbiton. He was an only child and his father was a local building contractor...
, Armitage
Peter Armitage
Peter Armitage is a statistician specialising in medical statistics.Peter Armitage attended Huddersfield College and went on to read mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. Armitage belonged to the generation of mathematicians who came to maturity in the Second World War...
, and Kempthorne
Oscar Kempthorne
Oscar Kempthorne was a statistician and geneticist known for his research on randomization-analysis and the design of experiments, which had wide influence on research in agriculture, genetics, and other areas of science...
, the course of Irwin was the first step to becoming statisticians.
At the MRC Irwin wrote a series of important papers on bioassay. An important theoretical contribution was his 1935 paper on "Fisher's exact test". Irwin had done the work in 1933, apparently preceding the better known work of Fisher and Yates. After the war Irwin embarked on a number of long-term collaborative studies, often for official committees. These were applied studies but he continued to work on more mathematical problems, e.g. he produced a series of papers on the Generalized Waring Distribution.
Oscar Irwin received many honours and served as president of the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
in 1962–64; he had played an important part in the affairs of the society for many years.
Greeenberg has described the man
J. O. Irwin was a soft spoken kind soul who took a tremendous interest in his students and their achievements.... He was a lovable absent-minded kind of professor who smoked more matches than he did tobacco in his ever-present pipe while he was deeply involved in thinking about other important matters.
Selected publications
According to Armitage, Irwin published about 120 papers. There is no published bibliography but many of the papers can be found by searching JSTOR.- J. O. Irwin (1927) On the Frequency Distribution of the Means of Samples from a Population Having any Law of Frequency with Finite Moments, with Special Reference to Pearson's Type II, Biometrika Vol. 19, pp. 225–239.
- J. O. Irwin (1931) Recent Advances in Mathematical Statistics, Journal of the Royal Statistical SocietyJournal of the Royal Statistical SocietyThe Journal of the Royal Statistical Society is a series of three peer-reviewed statistics journals published by Blackwell Publishing for the London-based Royal Statistical Society.- History :...
, Vol. 94, pp. 568–578
- J. O. Irwin (1935) Tests of Significance for Differences between Percentages Based on Small Numbers, Metron, Vol. 12, pp. 83–94.
- J. O. Irwin (1963) Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, 1890–1962, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, Vol. 126, pp. 159–162.
- J. O. Irwin (1975) The Generalized Waring Distribution. Part I, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), Vol. 138, pp. 18–31.
Life
- Peter ArmitagePeter ArmitagePeter Armitage is a statistician specialising in medical statistics.Peter Armitage attended Huddersfield College and went on to read mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. Armitage belonged to the generation of mathematicians who came to maturity in the Second World War...
(1982) Joseph Oscar Irwin (1898–1982), Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, 145, 526–528.
- Bernard G. Greenberg (1983) Joseph Oscar Irwin, 1898–1982, An Obituary Appreciation, Biometrics, 39, 527–528.
- Peter Armitage (2001) Joseph Oscar Irwin, Statisticians of the Centuries (ed. C. C. Heyde and E. Seneta) pp. 472–474. New York: Springer.
External links
There is a photograph at- Joseph Oscar Irwin on the Portraits of Statisticians page.
For Irwin’s correspondence with Fisher see