The Lady Tasting Tea
Encyclopedia
The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century (ISBN 0-8050-7134-2) is a book by David Salsburg
about the history of modern statistics
and the role it played in the development of science and industry.
The title comes from the "lady tasting tea
", an example from the famous book, Statistical methods for research workers
, by Ronald A. Fisher. Regarding Fisher's example, the statistician D. Basu wrote that "the famous case of the 'lady tasting tea
'" was "one of the two supporting pillars . . . of the randomization analysis of experimental data".
David Salsburg
David S. Salsburg gained fame as the author of The Lady Tasting Tea, subtitled How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century...
about the history of modern statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and the role it played in the development of science and industry.
The title comes from the "lady tasting tea
Lady tasting tea
In the design of experiments in statistics, the lady tasting tea is a famous randomized experiment devised by Ronald A. Fisher and reported in his book Statistical methods for research workers . The lady in question was Dr...
", an example from the famous book, Statistical methods for research workers
Statistical Methods for Research Workers
Statistical Methods for Research Workers is a classic 1925 book on statistics by the statistician R.A. Fisher. It is considered by some to be one of the 20th century's most influential books on statistical methods. According to ,...
, by Ronald A. Fisher. Regarding Fisher's example, the statistician D. Basu wrote that "the famous case of the 'lady tasting tea
Lady tasting tea
In the design of experiments in statistics, the lady tasting tea is a famous randomized experiment devised by Ronald A. Fisher and reported in his book Statistical methods for research workers . The lady in question was Dr...
'" was "one of the two supporting pillars . . . of the randomization analysis of experimental data".
Quotation from the publisher
At a summer tea party in Cambridge, England, a lady states that tea poured into milk tastes differently than that of milk poured into tea. Her notion is shouted down by the scientific minds of the group. But one guest, by the name Ronald Aylmer Fisher, proposes to scientifically test the lady's hypothesis. There was no better person to conduct such a test, for Fisher had brought to the field of statistics an emphasis on controlling the methods for obtaining data and the importance of interpretation. He knew that how the data was gathered and applied was as important as the data themselves.
In The Lady Tasting Tea, readers will encounter not only R.A. Fisher's theories (and their repercussions), but the ideas of dozens of men and women whose revolutionary work affects our everyday lives. Salsburg traces the rise and fall of Karl PearsonKarl PearsonKarl Pearson FRS was an influential English mathematician who has been credited for establishing the disciplineof mathematical statistics....
's theories, explores W. Edwards DemingW. Edwards DemingWilliam Edwards Deming was an American statistician, professor, author, lecturer and consultant. He is perhaps best known for his work in Japan...
's statistical methods of quality control (which rebuilt postwar Japan's economy), and relates the story of Stella CunliffeStella CunliffeStella Vivian Cunliffe MBE was a British statistician.She was educated at Parsons Mead, Ashtead and the London School of Economics where she gained a BSc .- Career :...
's early work on the capacity of small beer casks at the Guinness brewing factory. The Lady Tasting Tea is not a book of dry facts and figures, but the history of great individuals who dared to look at the world in a new way.