Isobel St. Clair Loutit (July 18, 1909 – April 19, 2009) was a Canadian mathematician, educator, inventor, and statistician. She was "one of the first women, if not the first, to work professionally as a statistician in Canada", and she was recognized as an honorary member of the

Statistical Society of Canada The Statistical Society of Canada (abbreviated as SSC; ) is a professional organization whose mission is to promote the use and development of statistics and probability. Its objectives are * to make the general public aware of the value of stat ...

Early life and education

Loutit was born in

Selkirk, Manitoba Selkirk is a city in the western Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba, located on the Red River of the North, Red River about northeast of Winnipeg, the provincial capital. It has a population of 10,504 as of the 20 ...

, one of seven children. Her father, Peter Robert Loutit (1878–1961), was a school teacher and principal, of Scottish descent. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1929 from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, with a minor in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, one of four women to earn a mathematics degree that year. One of her professors there, Lloyd A. H. Warren, taught her statistics. She also studied probability, numerical analysis, least squares, and actuarial science.

Career

Faced with a choice between becoming a teacher, nurse, or secretary, the only career alternatives available at that time to women, Loutit chose to be a teacher. The male teachers at the schools she taught at were given priority for the mathematics classes, so she ended up teaching French, with occasional roles as a substitute mathematics teacher. She remained a school teacher from 1929 to 1942. After learning of the deaths of several of her former students in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Loutit signed up for an engineering job advertised to women with technical degrees, to replace the men who had gone abroad as soldiers. Although officially employed by the government, she began working with Vernon Oswald Marquez at

Northern Electric Northern Electric was an electricity supply and distribution company serving north east England. History It had its origins as the North Eastern Electricity Board, formed as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Ele ...

, to help develop an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

targeting device. Marquez requested that she be transferred to Northern Electric more permanently, and she became an employee in 1943, appointed as an engineer despite her lack of engineering training in order to allow her to be paid beyond the women's salary scale. After the war, Loutit worked as a statistician for Northern Electric, at first in the telephone division and later in the wire and cable division, specializing in data analysis and

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

. She was promoted to Department Chief in 1966, becoming the first woman to take a management position in the company.

Other activities

While working at Northern Electric, Loutit became involved in the Montréal Section of the American Society for Quality Control, including chairing a one-day meeting on quality control in 1961 and the first Canadian Regional Conference of the society in 1966. At the 1961 meeting, she gave a lunchtime speech in French, "the first official use of French by this professional society". She was elected chair of the section in 1969. In her retirement, Loutit wrote several pieces on the local history of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and

Compton County, Quebec Compton County is an historical county in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the western flanks of the Appalachian Mountains on the Canada–United States border. It is in the Estrie (Eastern Townships) region of the province and was named in 1793 af ...

before returning to Winnipeg in 1989.

Recognition

Loutit became an honorary member of the

in 2009. The Business and Industrial Statistics Section of the Society also offers an annual lecture, the Isobel Loutit Invited Address, in her memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loutit, Isobel Canadian statisticians Canadian women statisticians University of Manitoba alumni 1909 births 2009 deaths