Lucien Marie Le Cam (November 18, 1924 – April 25, 2000) was a
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and
statistician
A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may w ...
.
Biography
Le Cam was born November 18, 1924 in
Croze,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. His parents were farmers, and unable to afford higher education for him; his father died when he was 13. After graduating from a Catholic school in 1942, he began studying at a seminary in
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
, but immediately quit upon learning that he would not be allowed to study chemistry there. Instead he continued his studies at a lycée, which did not teach chemistry but did teach mathematics. In May 1944 he joined an underground group, and then went into hiding, returning to his school the following November but soon afterwards moving to Paris, where he began studying at the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
. He graduated in 1945 with the degree ''Licence ès Sciences''.
[.]
Le Cam then worked for a hydroelectric utility for five years, while meeting at the University of Paris for a weekly seminar in statistics. In 1950, he was invited to become an instructor at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
;
he arrived that fall, with his original plan being to stay there a year on leave from his utility position. By the spring of 1951, he had met his future wife (Louise Romig, the daughter of statistician
Harry Romig), decided to stay longer, and been admitted to the Ph.D. program.
He obtained his Ph.D. in 1952, was appointed Assistant Professor in 1953 and continued working at Berkeley (except for a year in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
) beyond his retirement in 1991 until his death.
, accessed 2013-05-07.
Contributions
Le Cam was the major figure during the period 1950 – 1990 in the development of abstract general asymptotic theory in mathematical statistics. He is best known for the general concepts of ''local asymptotic normality In statistics, local asymptotic normality is a property of a sequence of statistical models, which allows this sequence to be asymptotically approximated by a normal location model, after a rescaling of the parameter. An important example when th ...
'' and '' contiguity'', and for developing a metric theory of statistical experiments, recounted in his 1986 magnum opus ''Asymptotic Methods in Statistical Decision Theory''.
Selected publications
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References
Further reading
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External links
In Memory of Lucien Le Cam
Oberwolfach Photo Collection, 1973
Lucien Le Cam
Portraits of Statisticians
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Cam, Lucien
Presidents of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics
French statisticians
Probability theorists
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
20th-century French mathematicians
1924 births
2000 deaths
University of Paris alumni
Mathematical statisticians
People from Creuse