Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (June 29, 1893–June 28, 1972) was an Indian scientist and applied statistician. He is best known for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure. He did pioneering work on anthropometric variation in India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to large scale sample surveys.

Inspired by Biometrika and mentored by Acharya Brajendra Nath Seal he started his statistical work. Initially he worked on analyzing university exam results, anthropometric measurements on Anglo-Indians of Calcutta and some metrological problems. He also worked as a meteorologist for some time. In 1924, when he was working on the probable error of results of agricultural experiments, he met Ronald Fisher, with whom he established a life-long friendship. He also worked on schemes to prevent floods.

His most important contributions are related to large scale sample surveys. He introduced the concept of pilot surveys and advocated the usefulness of sampling methods. His name is also associated with the scale free multivariate distance measure, the Mahalanobis distance. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute on 17 December, 1931.

In later life, he contributed prominently to newly independent India's five-year plans starting from the second. His variant of Wassily Leontief's neo-Marxist Input-output model, the Mahalanobis model, was employed in the Second Five Year Plan, which worked towards the rapid industrialization of India and with other colleagues at his institute, he played a key role in the development of a statistical infrastructure.

He was awarded the Weldon Medal from Oxford University in1944, Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1945, Honorary President, International Statistical Institute in1957 and Padma Vibhushan in 1968.

The government of India has decided to celebrate his birthday, 29 June, as National Statistical Day.

Courtesy:Internet