Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

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Category: Science

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Profile

  • Name:
  • Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis
  • Born:
  • June 29, 1893
  • Died:
  • June 28, 1972
  • Father:
  • Probodh Chandra
  • Mother:
  • Nirodbashini

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Biography

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, shortly called P. C. Mahalanobis was a scientist, mathematician and applied statistician, who introduced ‘Mahalanobis distance’ to the world of statistics. It provides a relative measure of a data point's distance from a common point. He was a pioneer in Indian research works on anthropometry and also known as the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute. He was India’s one of the earliest applied statistician in modern statistics. His contributions to the design of large-scale sample surveys also need special mention.

 

He was born to Probodh Chandra and Nirodbashini in 1893 in Kolkata. His father was a dealer of sports good and had a brief stint in a chemist’s shop, working as an assistant. The family was of the Brahmo Samaj religion, influential and financially in a stable position. Prasanta Chandra was the eldest of 6 children. As a young child, he was influenced a lot by Tagore. Mahalanobis attended the Brahmo Boys School in Kolkata and passed matriculation in the year 1908. Later he studied at Presidency college, where he graduated in physics.

 

It was a destiny that he studied mathematics later. In 1913, he reached Cambridge to study at the University of London. He happened to see the chapel of King's College which attracted him a lot. By chance he missed the train back to London and stayed with a friend that night. He met a student who was studying at King's College and on his suggestion, he applied to study there. He got selected and thus studied mathematics there.

 

Once returned to India in 1915, he was offered a temporary vacancy in the physics department at Presidency College, Kolkata. His real intention was to return to Cambridge and continue with his research works. However he stayed back. Mahalanobis devised a measure of comparison between two data sets that is now known as the Mahalanobis distance. The statistical method called fractile graphical analysis is his next noted contribution. He has served as a member of the Planning Commission of India from 1955 to 1967.

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Updated: September 29, 2017

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