Karl Pearson

Karl Pearson FRS (27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an influential English mathematician.^ Yule G.U. & Filon L.N.G. 1936. Karl Pearson. 1857-1936. Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 2 (5): 72.  He helped establish the discipline
of mathematical statistics.
"Carl Pearson" became "Karl Pearson" by accident when he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg in 1879. They changed the spelling. He used both versions of his name until 1884 when he finally adopted Karl.Porter, Theodore M. 2004. Karl Pearson: the scientific life in a statistical age. Princeton University Press. pg.78 Eventually he became known as "KP".

In 1911 he founded the world's first university statistics department at University College London. He was a proponent of eugenics, and a protégé and biographer of Sir Francis Galton.

A conference was held in London on 23 March 2007, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth.

 Galton 
Pearson met Charles Darwin's cousin Francis Galton, who was interested in heredity and eugenics. Pearson became Galton's protégé, at times close to hero worship.

After Galton's death in 1911, Pearson started on a massive three-volume biography of Galton. The biography was done "to satisfy myself and without regard to... the needs of publishers or to the tastes of the reading public". It celebrated Galton's life, work, and talent. He predicted (wrongly) that Galton, rather than Charles Darwin, would be remembered as the most prodigious grandson of Erasmus Darwin.

When Galton died, he left much of his estate to University College 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 in accordance with Galton's wishes.Pearson, Roger 1991. Race, intelligence and bias in Academe Scott-Townsend Publishers. He formed the Department of Applied Statistics, which included the Biometric and Galton laboratories. He stayed with the department until his retirement in 1933, and continued to work until his death in 1936.

 Statistics 
Pearson's ideas helped build the statistical methods in common use today.Jolliffe I.T. 2002. Principal component analysis. 2nd ed, New York: Springer-Verlag.

 Books 
The grammar of science. 1892; 2nd ed 1900. A. & C. Black, London. Dover Publications 2004 edition 
 The life, letters and labours of Francis Galton: three volumes: 1914, 1924, 1930, Cambridge University Press, available in full at Galton website

References

 Other sources 
Karl Pearson page 
A list of the papers and correspondence of Karl Pearson (1857–1936) held in the Manuscripts Room, University College London Library. Publications Office, University College London, 1983.
Entry for Karl Pearson in the Sackler Digital Archive of the Royal Society

Category:1857 births
Category:1936 deaths
Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Category:English mathematicians
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:People from London
Category:British statisticians