Google Doodle honours P.C. Mahalanobis

Google on Friday dedicated a Doodle in honour of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, regarded as the chief architect of Indian statistical system as well as father of statistical science in India.

Mahalanobis set up the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1931 in what is now known as Kolkata.

He also helped establish the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), all of which were run from ISI in the early years.

The Google Doodle marks the 125th birth anniversary of Mahalanobis whose contributions in making India get an estimate of population distribution, crop yields and household consumption soon after gaining independence are now fondly remembered.

June 29, which marks his birth anniversary, is also celebrated in India as the "Statistics Day".

To develop his novel estimation techniques, Mahalanobis combined statistics with other disciplines, including anthropology, physics and economics.

His analysis of anthropometric data led to the famous concept in statistics known as "Mahalanobis Distance", a measurement used in studies of population.

Mahalanobis, who studied mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, was a member of India's Planning Commission from 1953 until 1967, and directed the nation's Second Five Year Plan.

He died on June 28, 1972.

--IANS

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