Morris Herman DeGroot (June 8, 1931 – November 2, 1989) was an American statistician.

Biography

Born in

Scranton Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, DeGroot graduated from

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...

and earned master's and doctor's degrees from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. DeGroot joined

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People *Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name **Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist * Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie * ...

in 1957 and became a University Professor, the school's highest faculty position, serving in that position until his death from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

in 1989. He was the founding editor of the

review journal A review article is an article that summarizes the current state of understanding on a topic within a certain discipline. A review article is generally considered a secondary source since it may analyze and discuss the method and conclusions ...

Statistical Science ''Statistical Science'' is a review journal published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. The founding editor was Morris H. DeGroot, who explained the mission of the journal in his 1986 editorial: "A central purpose of ''Statistical Sci ...

''.

Academic works

He wrote six books, edited four volumes and authored over one hundred papers. Most of his research was on the theory of rational decision-making under uncertainty. His ''Optimal Statistical Decisions'', published in 1970, is still recognized as one of the great books in the field. His courses on statistical decision theory taught at Carnegie-Mellon influenced

Edward C. Prescott Edward Christian Prescott (December 26, 1940 – November 6, 2022) was an American economist. He received the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2004, sharing the award with ...

and

Robert Lucas, Jr. Robert Emerson Lucas Jr. (September 15, 1937 – May 15, 2023) was an American economist at the University of Chicago. Widely regarded as the central figure in the development of the new classical approach to macroeconomics, he received the N ...

, influential figures in the development of

new classical macroeconomics New classical macroeconomics, sometimes simply called new classical economics, is a school of thought in macroeconomics that builds its analysis entirely on a neoclassical framework. Specifically, it emphasizes the importance of foundations bas ...

and

real business-cycle theory Real business-cycle theory (RBC theory) is a class of new classical macroeconomics macroeconomic model, models in which business-cycle fluctuations are accounted for by Real vs. nominal in economics, real, in contrast to nominal, Shock (economics) ...

. DeGroot's undergraduate text, ''Probability and Statistics'', published in 1975, is widely recognized as a classic textbook.

Books

* DeGroot, M.H. & M.J. Schervish (2011), ''Probability and Statistics'', 4th Ed, Pearson, * DeGroot, M.H. & M.J. Schervish (2011), ''Student Solutions Manual for Probability and Statistics'', Pearson, * * DeGroot, M.H. (1989), ''Probability and Statistics'', 2nd Ed, Addison-Wesley, * DeGroot, Morris H., ''Optimal Statistical Decisions''. Wiley Classics Library. 2004. (Originally published (1970) by McGraw-Hill.) . * DeGroot, M.H., S.E. Fienberg & J.B. Kadane (1994), ''Statistics and the Law'' (1994), Wiley, *

Awards and honors

DeGroot was elected 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 ...

, the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts ...

, the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. At a meeting of the Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, statisticians met and formed the agreed statues of the International Statistical ...

, the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools in the practice of econometrics. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians o ...

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 ...

. ISBA's DeGroot Prize is named for him.

References

External links

* Fellows of the American Statistical Association American statisticians Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American econometricians American social scientists American business theorists American public administration scholars Carnegie Mellon University faculty Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics 1931 births 1989 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Pennsylvania Bayesian econometricians 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American economists {{US-statistician-stub

Biography

Academic works

Books

Awards and honors

See also

References

Further reading

External links