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Karl Pearson FRS (; originally named Carl; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an influential English mathematician and biostatician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics,〔"() the founder of modern statistics, Karl Pearson." – Bronowski, Jacob (1978). ''The Common Sense of Science'', Harvard University Press, p. 128.〕 and contributed significantly to the field of biometrics, meteorology, theories of social Darwinism and eugenics.〔("The Concept of Heredity in the History of Western Culture: Part One," ) ''The Mankind Quarterly'', Vol. XXXV, No. 3, p. 237.〕 Pearson was also a protégé and biographer of Sir Francis Galton. In 1911 he founded the world's first university statistics department at University College London. ==Biography== He was born to William Pearson and Fanny Smith, and had two siblings, Arthur, and Amy. Pearson was an accomplished historian and Germanist and spent much of the 1880s in Berlin, Heidelberg, Vienna, Saig bei Lenzkirch, and Brixlegg. He wrote on Passion plays,〔Pearson, Karl (1897). ("The German Passion-Play: A Study in the Evolution of Western Christianity," ) in ''The Chances of Death and Other Studies in Evolution''. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 246–406.〕 religion, Goethe, Werther, as well as sex-related themes,〔Pearson, Karl (1888). ("A Sketch of the Sex-Relations in Primitive and Mediæval Germany," ) in ''The Ethic of Freethought''. London: T. Fisher Unwin, pp. 395–426.〕 and was a founder of the Men and Women's Club.〔Walkowitz, Judith R., History Workshop Journal 1986 21(1):37–59, p 37〕 Karl Pearson was educated privately at University College School, after which he went to King's College, Cambridge in 1876 to study mathematics, graduating in 1879 as Third Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos. He then travelled to Germany to study physics at the University of Heidelberg under G H Quincke and metaphysics under Kuno Fischer. He next visited the University of Berlin, where he attended the lectures of the famous physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond on Darwinism (Emil was a brother of Paul du Bois-Reymond, the mathematician). Other subjects which he studied in Berlin included Roman Law, taught by Bruns and Mommsen, medieval and 16th century German Literature, and Socialism. He was strongly influenced by the courses he attended at this time and he became sufficiently expert on German literature that he was offered a Germanics post at Kings College, Cambridge. But compared to Cambridge students, physically developed by athletics, Karl found German students weak. He wrote his mother, "I used to think athletics and sport was overestimated at Cambridge, but now I think it cannot be too highly valued." On returning to England in 1880, Pearson first went to Cambridge: In his first book, ''The New Werther'', Pearson gives a clear indication of why he studied so many diverse subjects: Pearson then returned to London to study law so that he might, like his father, be called to the Bar. Quoting Pearson's own account: His next career move was to the Inner Temple, where he read law until 1881 (although he never practised). After this, he returned to mathematics, deputising for the mathematics professor at King's College, London in 1881 and for the professor at University College, London in 1883. In 1884, he was appointed to the Goldsmid Chair of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics at University College, London. Pearson became the editor of ''Common Sense of the Exact Sciences'' (1885) when William Kingdon Clifford died. 1891 saw him also appointed to the professorship of Geometry at Gresham College; here he met Walter Frank Raphael Weldon, a zoologist who had some interesting problems requiring quantitative solutions.〔Provine, William B. (2001). ''The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics''. University of Chicago Press, p. 29.〕 The collaboration, in biometry and evolutionary theory, was a fruitful one and lasted until Weldon died in 1906.〔Tankard, James W. (1984). ''The Statistical Pioneers'', Schenkman Pub. Co.〕 Weldon introduced Pearson to Charles Darwin's cousin Francis Galton, who was interested in aspects of evolution such as heredity and eugenics. Pearson became Galton's protégé—his "statistical heir" as some have put it—at times to the verge of hero worship. In 1890 he married Maria Sharpe, and they had three children, Sigrid Loetitia Pearson, Helga Sharpe Pearson, and Egon Pearson, who became an eminent statistician himself and succeeded his father as head of the Applied Statistics Department at University College. Maria died in 1928 and in 1929 Karl married Margaret Victoria Child, a co-worker at the Biometric Laboratory. He and his family lived at 7 Well Road in Hampstead, now marked with a blue plaque.〔("Karl Pearson Blue Plaque," ) at Openplaques.org.〕 After Galton's death in 1911, Pearson embarked on producing his definitive biography—a three-volume tome of narrative, letters, genealogies, commentaries, and photographs—published in 1914, 1924, and 1930, with much of Pearson's own money paying for their print runs. The biography, done "to satisfy myself and without regard to traditional standards, to the needs of publishers or to the tastes of the reading public", triumphed Galton's life, work, and personal heredity. He predicted that Galton, rather than Charles Darwin, would be remembered as the most prodigious grandson of Erasmus Darwin. When Galton died, he left the residue of his estate to the University of London for a Chair in Eugenics. Pearson was the first holder of this chair—the ''Galton Chair of Eugenics'', later the ''Galton Chair of Genetics''〔Blaney, Tom (2011). ''The Chief Sea Lion's Inheritance: Eugenics and the Darwins''. Troubador Pub., p. 108. Also see Pearson, Roger (1991). ''Race, Intelligence and Bias in Academe''. Scott-Townsend Publishers.〕—in accordance with Galton's wishes. He formed the Department of Applied Statistics (with financial support from the Drapers' Company), into which he incorporated the Biometric and Galton laboratories. He remained with the department until his retirement in 1933, and continued to work until his death in 1936. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Karl Pearson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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