A Brief History of the Statistics Department of the University of California at Berkeley

TL;DR

This paper chronicles the history and development of the University of California at Berkeley's Statistics Department, highlighting key figures and the department's growth into a global leader in the field.

Contribution

It provides a historical account emphasizing Neyman's foundational role and the department's evolution, based on biographical and archival sources.

Findings

Neyman's leadership was crucial to the department's success.

The department grew rapidly from a small research cell to a major statistical institution.

The department maintained its prominence for over fifty years.

Abstract

The early history of our department was dominated by Jerzy Neyman (1894-1981), while the next phase was largely in the hands of Neyman's students, with Erich Lehmann (1917-2009) being a central, long-lived and much-loved member of this group. We are very fortunate in having Constance Reid's biography "Neyman -- From Life" and Erich's "Reminiscences of a Statistician: The Company I Kept" and other historical material documenting the founding and growth of the department, and the people in it. In what follows, we will draw heavily from these sources, describing what seems to us to be a remarkable success story: one person starting "a cell of statistical research and teaching ... not being hampered by any existing traditions and routines" and seeing that cell grow rapidly into a major force in academic statistics worldwide. That it has remained so for (at least) the half-century after its founding is a testament to the strength of Neyman's model for a department of statistics.