Ida Stamhuis (Amsterdam) « Statistics during the Defeat of the Dutch Statistical Society »
Channel: Société Française de Statistique
Date: 2012-07-31

Ida Stamhuis (Amsterdam) : "German 'Knowledge of State Power' or French 'Numbers and Equations', Opinions on Statistics during the Defeat of the Dutch Statistical Society"

Abstract : Through the size and location of the Netherlands, Dutch people have always been international in scope. Statistics entered the Netherlands  around 1800 (not1900) from Germany, where it was known as "Statistik"or "Staatenkunde". The founder of the Dutch Statistical Society (1857), Simon Vissering, stressed two main geographical roots of statistics; in addition to Germany also France. The French accentuated  "numbers and equations", the Germans "knowledge of state power". In my paper I will go into the history of the Dutch statistical society and discuss the role of the various influences. I will argue that an important reason that the society in 1891 decided to be not longer engaged in statistics was its dominant German orientation.  Mathematics and probability, which apparently were considered French ingredients, were only allowed to play a humble role.