Robin L. Plackett was a statistician

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...

 best known for his contributions to the history of statistics

History of statistics

The history of statistics can be said to start around 1749 although, over time, there have been changes to the interpretation of what the word statistics means. In early times, the meaning was restricted to information about states...

 and to experimental design, most notably the Plackett–Burman designs.

He was the first professor of statistics at Newcastle University and held the post until his retirement in 1983. In 1987 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...

 awarded him the Guy Medal

Guy Medal

The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Gold Medal is awarded triennially, the other two are awarded annually...

in Gold, having awarded him both the bronze and silver medals earlier in his career.

He authored several books on statistics, including Principles of Regression Analysis (1960), The Analysis of Categorical Data (1974) and An Introduction to the Interpretation of Quantal Responses in Biology (1979, with P. S. Hewlett).

Further reading