New Delhi: Today is noted statistician and scientist Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis' 125th anniversary and in honor of this occasion Google has dedicated its today's doodle by Nishant Choksi to him.
He was born on 29 June 1893 in West Bengal, Mahalanobis is known for his pioneering work in statistics and is most often remembered by the "Mahalanobis distance", a way of measurement used in population studies and was one of the members of the first Planning Commission of India.
He also taught at Presidency College (Kolkata) where, in 1931, he was responsible for founding the Indian Statistical Institute.
He further laid the foundations of Indian statistical system through the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO)
Mahalanobis, a man of diverse scientific interests combined other disciplines like anthropology, economics, physics to develop better approaches in the field of population studies, consumption and crop yields. Later on, he collaborated with both top economists and mathematicians from around the world.
He died on June 28, 1972, just a day ahead of his 79th birthday.
The accolades kept pouring in even after his demise. Since 2007, June 29 has been commemorated as World Statics Day to acknowledge Mahalabonis’ pioneering contribution in the field of Statistics and Economics.
This year the theme for the Statics Day is ‘Industrial Statistics’. Organised by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, a day long ceremony will be held in Delhi where seminars and discussions are organised on his birth anniversary.