Table of Contents

Introduction PART 1: The Development of Mathematical Statistics in Astronomy and Geodesy before 1827 1. Least Squares and the Combination of Observations Legendre in 1805 Cotes's Rule Tobias Mayer and the Libration of the Moon Saturn, Jupiter, and Enter Laplace's Rescue of the Solar System Roger Boscovich and the Figure of the Earth Laplace and the Method of Situation Legendre and the Invention of Least Squares 2. Probabilists and the Measurement of Uncertainty Jacob Bernoulli De Moivre and the Expanded Binomial Bernoulli's Failure De Moivre's Approximation De Moivre's Deficiency Simpson and Bayes Simpson's Crucial Step toward Error A Bayesian Critique 3. Inverse Probability Laplace and Inverse Probability The Choice of Means The Deduction of a Curve of Errors in 1772-1774

Promotional Information

Stigler's book exhibits a rare combination of mastery of technical materials, sensitivity to conceptual milieu, and near exhaustive familiarity with primary sources. An exemplary study -- Lorraine Daston

About the Author

Stephen M. Stigler is Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of Statistics at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

One is tempted to say that the history of statistics in the nineteenth century will be associated with the name Stigler.
*New York Times Book Review*

An exceptionally searching, almost loving, study of the relevant inspirations and aberrations of its principal characters James Bernoulli, de Moivre, Bayes, Laplace, Gauss, Quetelet, Lexis, Galton, Edgeworth, and Pearson, not neglecting a grand supporting cast… The definitive record of an intellectual Golden Age, an overoptimistic climb to a height not to be maintained.
*Science*

In this tour de force of careful scholarship, Stephen Stigler has laid bare the people, ideas, and events underlying the development of statistics… He has written an important and wonderful book… Sometimes Stigler’s prose is so evocative it is almost poetic.
*Contemporary Psychology*

The book is a pleasure to read: the prose sparkles; the protagonists are vividly drawn; the illustrations are handsome and illuminating; the insights plentiful and sharp. This will remain the definitive work on the early development of mathematical statistics for some time to come.
*Journal of Modern History*

Stigler’s book exhibits a rare combination of mastery of technical materials, sensitivity to conceptual milieu, and near exhaustive familiarity with primary sources. An exemplary study.
*Lorraine Daston*