Donald Ransom Whitney (November 27, 1915 – August 16, 2007) was an American mathematician best known as a co-author of the Mann-Whitney U test. Born in

East Cleveland, Ohio East Cleveland is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,792 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a suburb lying east and south of Cleveland and west of Cleveland Heights. History Historically Eas ...

, he held his BA from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, where he met his future wife Marian, MA in Mathematics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, and a PhD in Mathematics from

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. From 1942 to 1946, Whitney served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

, then earned his PhD and joined the Mathematics faculty of Ohio State University. There he collaborated with Henry Mann and both soon published their article “On a test of whether one of two random variables is stochastically larger than the other”, Ann. Math. Stat. 18 (1947), 50-60, one of the most cited articles in statistics ever. Professor Whitney founded the Statistics Laboratory at The Ohio State University and later in 1970's served as Chairman of Statistics there. He was author or coauthor of three textbooks in mathematics and statistics and of many articles. He was a fellow of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitney, D. Ransom American statisticians 20th-century American mathematicians Ohio State University faculty 1915 births 2007 deaths Mathematical statisticians