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Udny Yule

January 29, 2023

This article is about the statistician. For other people with this name, see George Yule.

George Udny Yule FRS (18 February 1871 – 26 June 1951),[1] usually known as Udny Yule, was a British statistician, particularly known for the Yule distribution and proposing the preferential attachment model for random graphs.[2]

George Udny Yule
Born18 February 1871 (1871-02-18)
Morham, Scotland
Died26 June 1951 (1951-06-27) (aged 80)
Cambridge, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity College London
Known forYule distribution
Yule's Y
Yule's coefficient
Yule–Simpson effect
Yule–Walker equations
Preferential attachment
Simple birth process
AwardsGuy Medal (Gold, 1911)
Scientific career
FieldsStatistics, Genetics
InstitutionsUniversity College London, University of Cambridge

Personal life

Yule was born at Beech Hill, a house in Morham near Haddington, Scotland and died in Cambridge, England. He came from an established Scottish family composed of army officers, civil servants, scholars, and administrators. His father, Sir George Udny Yule (1813–1886) was a brother of the noted orientalist Sir Henry Yule (1820–1889). His great uncle was the botanist John Yule.[3]

In 1899, Yule married May Winifred Cummings. The marriage was annulled in 1912, producing no children.[4]

Education and teaching

Udny Yule was educated at Winchester College and at the age of 16 at University College London where he read engineering. After a year in Bonn doing research in experimental physics under Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Yule returned to University College in 1893 to work as a demonstrator for Karl Pearson, one of his former teachers. Pearson was beginning to work in statistics and Yule followed him into this new field. Yule progressed to an assistant professorship but he left in 1899 to a better-paid position as secretary to an examination board, working under Philip Magnus at the City and Guilds Institute.[5]

In 1902 Yule became Newmarch lecturer in statistics at University College, a position he held together with his post at the City and Guilds Institute. He continued to publish articles and also wrote an influential textbook, Introduction to the Theory of Statistics (1911), based on his lectures.[5]

In 1912 Yule moved to Cambridge University to a newly created Lectureship in Statistics and he remained in Cambridge for the rest of his life. During the First World War Yule worked for the army and then for the Ministry of Food. A heart attack in 1931 left him semi-invalided and led to his early retirement. His flow of publications almost ceased but, in the 1940s he found new interests, one of which led to a book, The Statistical Study of Literary Vocabulary.

Scholarship

Yule was a prolific writer, the highlight of his publications being perhaps the textbook Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, which went through fourteen editions and was published in several languages.[6] He was active in the Royal Statistical Society, was awarded its Guy Medal in Gold in 1911, and served as its president in 1924–26.

Yule's first paper on statistics appeared in 1895: "On the Correlation of Total Pauperism with Proportion of Out-relief". Yule was interested in applying statistical techniques to social problems and he quickly became a member of the Royal Statistical Society. For many years the only members interested in mathematical statistics were Yule, Edgeworth and Bowley. In 1897–99 Yule wrote important papers on correlation and regression. After 1900 he worked on a parallel theory of association. His approach to association was quite different from Pearson's and relations between them deteriorated. Yule had broad interests and his collaborators included the agricultural meteorologist R. H. Hooker, the medical statistician Major Greenwood and the agricultural scientist Sir Frank Engledow. Yule's sympathy towards the newly rediscovered Mendelian theory of genetics led to several papers.

In the 1920s Yule wrote three influential papers on time series analysis, "On the time-correlation problem" (1921), a critique of the variate difference method, an investigation of a form of spurious correlation[7] (1926) and "On a Method of Investigating Periodicities in Disturbed Series, with Special Reference to Wolfer's Sunspot Numbers" (1927), which used an autoregressive model to model the sunspot time series instead of the established periodogram method of Schuster.

In 1925 Yule published the paper "A Mathematical Theory of Evolution, based on the Conclusions of Dr. J. C. Willis, F.R.S.",[2] where he proposes a stochastic process that leads to a distribution with a power-law tail – in this case, the distribution of species and genera. This was later called the Yule process, but is now better known as preferential attachment. Herbert A. Simon dubbed the resulting distribution the Yule distribution in his honour.

Assessment

Frank Yates culminated his 1952 obituary of Yule by saying:

“To summarize we may, I think, justly conclude that though Yule did not fully develop any completely new branches of statistical theory, he took the first steps in many directions which were later to prove fruitful lines for further progress… He can indeed rightly claim to be one of the pioneers of modern statistics”.[8]

Yule made important contributions to the theory and practice of correlation, regression, and association, as well as to time series analysis. He pioneered the use of preferential attachment stochastic processes to explain the origin of power law distribution. The Yule distribution, a discrete power law, is named after him.

Although Yule taught at Cambridge for twenty years, he had little impact on the development of statistics there. M. S. Bartlett recalled him as a "mentor" but his famous association with Maurice Kendall, who revised the Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, only came about after Kendall had graduated.

Selected works

  • Yule, G. U. (1896). "On the Significance of Bravais' Formulae for Regression, &c., in the Case of Skew Correlation". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 60 (359–367): 477–489. Bibcode:1896RSPS...60..477U. doi:10.1098/rspl.1896.0075.
  • Yule, G. U. (1900). "On the Association of Attributes in Statistics: With Illustrations from the Material of the Childhood Society, &c". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 194 (252–261): 257–319. Bibcode:1900RSPTA.194..257Y. doi:10.1098/rsta.1900.0019.
  • Yule, G. U.; Pearson, K. (1901). "On the Theory of Consistence of Logical Class-Frequencies, and Its Geometrical Representation". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 197 (287–299): 91. Bibcode:1901RSPTA.197...91Y. doi:10.1098/rsta.1901.0015.
  • Yule, G. U. (1902). "Mendel's Laws and their probable relations to inter-racial heredity". New Phytologist. 1 (10): 226–227. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1902.tb07336.x.
  • Yule, G. U. (1907). "On the Theory of Correlation for any Number of Variables, Treated by a New System of Notation". Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 79 (529): 182–193. Bibcode:1907RSPSA..79..182Y. doi:10.1098/rspa.1907.0028. hdl:2027/coo.31924081088423.
  • Yule, G. Udny. Introduction to the Theory of Statistics London Griffin 1911.
  • Yule, G. U. (1927). "On a Method of Investigating Periodicities in Disturbed Series, with Special Reference to Wolfer's Sunspot Numbers". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 226 (636–646): 267–298. Bibcode:1927RSPTA.226..267Y. doi:10.1098/rsta.1927.0007.

References

  1. ^ Yates, F. (1952). "George Udny Yule. 1871–1951". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 8 (21): 308–323. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1952.0020. S2CID 178300526.
  2. ^ a b Yule, G. U. (1925). "A Mathematical Theory of Evolution, Based on the Conclusions of Dr. J. C. Willis, F.R.S" (PDF). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 213 (402–410): 21–23. Bibcode:1925RSPTB.213...21U. doi:10.1098/rstb.1925.0002. S2CID 86079660.
  3. ^ "George Udny Yule 1871-1951". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 8 (21): 308–323. 1952. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1952.0020. S2CID 178300526.
  4. ^ annulment: Yates, 1952
  5. ^ a b Yoshioka, Alan. "Yule, George Udny". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37086. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Wiiliams, Richard H.; Zimmerman, Donald W.; Ross, Donald C.; Zumbo, Bruno D. (2006). "Chapter 5. George Udny Yule: Premier British Statistician". Twelve British Statisticians. Bitingduck Press LLC. pp. 38–42. ISBN 978-1-932482-44-7.
  7. ^ "Why Do We Sometimes Get Nonsense Correlations between Time-series?" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  8. ^ pioneer of modern statistics: Yates 1952, p. 320

External links

January 29, 2023
udny, yule, this, article, about, statistician, other, people, with, this, name, george, yule, george, february, 1871, june, 1951, usually, known, british, statistician, particularly, known, yule, distribution, proposing, preferential, attachment, model, rando. This article is about the statistician For other people with this name see George Yule George Udny Yule FRS 18 February 1871 26 June 1951 1 usually known as Udny Yule was a British statistician particularly known for the Yule distribution and proposing the preferential attachment model for random graphs 2 George Udny YuleBorn18 February 1871 1871 02 18 Morham ScotlandDied26 June 1951 1951 06 27 aged 80 Cambridge EnglandNationalityBritishAlma materUniversity College LondonKnown forYule distributionYule s YYule s coefficientYule Simpson effectYule Walker equationsPreferential attachmentSimple birth processAwardsGuy Medal Gold 1911 Scientific careerFieldsStatistics GeneticsInstitutionsUniversity College London University of Cambridge Contents 1 Personal life 2 Education and teaching 3 Scholarship 4 Assessment 5 Selected works 6 References 7 External linksPersonal life EditYule was born at Beech Hill a house in Morham near Haddington Scotland and died in Cambridge England He came from an established Scottish family composed of army officers civil servants scholars and administrators His father Sir George Udny Yule 1813 1886 was a brother of the noted orientalist Sir Henry Yule 1820 1889 His great uncle was the botanist John Yule 3 In 1899 Yule married May Winifred Cummings The marriage was annulled in 1912 producing no children 4 Education and teaching EditUdny Yule was educated at Winchester College and at the age of 16 at University College London where he read engineering After a year in Bonn doing research in experimental physics under Heinrich Rudolf Hertz Yule returned to University College in 1893 to work as a demonstrator for Karl Pearson one of his former teachers Pearson was beginning to work in statistics and Yule followed him into this new field Yule progressed to an assistant professorship but he left in 1899 to a better paid position as secretary to an examination board working under Philip Magnus at the City and Guilds Institute 5 In 1902 Yule became Newmarch lecturer in statistics at University College a position he held together with his post at the City and Guilds Institute He continued to publish articles and also wrote an influential textbook Introduction to the Theory of Statistics 1911 based on his lectures 5 In 1912 Yule moved to Cambridge University to a newly created Lectureship in Statistics and he remained in Cambridge for the rest of his life During the First World War Yule worked for the army and then for the Ministry of Food A heart attack in 1931 left him semi invalided and led to his early retirement His flow of publications almost ceased but in the 1940s he found new interests one of which led to a book The Statistical Study of Literary Vocabulary Scholarship EditYule was a prolific writer the highlight of his publications being perhaps the textbook Introduction to the Theory of Statistics which went through fourteen editions and was published in several languages 6 He was active in the Royal Statistical Society was awarded its Guy Medal in Gold in 1911 and served as its president in 1924 26 Yule s first paper on statistics appeared in 1895 On the Correlation of Total Pauperism with Proportion of Out relief Yule was interested in applying statistical techniques to social problems and he quickly became a member of the Royal Statistical Society For many years the only members interested in mathematical statistics were Yule Edgeworth and Bowley In 1897 99 Yule wrote important papers on correlation and regression After 1900 he worked on a parallel theory of association His approach to association was quite different from Pearson s and relations between them deteriorated Yule had broad interests and his collaborators included the agricultural meteorologist R H Hooker the medical statistician Major Greenwood and the agricultural scientist Sir Frank Engledow Yule s sympathy towards the newly rediscovered Mendelian theory of genetics led to several papers In the 1920s Yule wrote three influential papers on time series analysis On the time correlation problem 1921 a critique of the variate difference method an investigation of a form of spurious correlation 7 1926 and On a Method of Investigating Periodicities in Disturbed Series with Special Reference to Wolfer s Sunspot Numbers 1927 which used an autoregressive model to model the sunspot time series instead of the established periodogram method of Schuster In 1925 Yule published the paper A Mathematical Theory of Evolution based on the Conclusions of Dr J C Willis F R S 2 where he proposes a stochastic process that leads to a distribution with a power law tail in this case the distribution of species and genera This was later called the Yule process but is now better known as preferential attachment Herbert A Simon dubbed the resulting distribution the Yule distribution in his honour Assessment EditFrank Yates culminated his 1952 obituary of Yule by saying To summarize we may I think justly conclude that though Yule did not fully develop any completely new branches of statistical theory he took the first steps in many directions which were later to prove fruitful lines for further progress He can indeed rightly claim to be one of the pioneers of modern statistics 8 Yule made important contributions to the theory and practice of correlation regression and association as well as to time series analysis He pioneered the use of preferential attachment stochastic processes to explain the origin of power law distribution The Yule distribution a discrete power law is named after him Although Yule taught at Cambridge for twenty years he had little impact on the development of statistics there M S Bartlett recalled him as a mentor but his famous association with Maurice Kendall who revised the Introduction to the Theory of Statistics only came about after Kendall had graduated Selected works EditYule G U 1896 On the Significance of Bravais Formulae for Regression amp c in the Case of Skew Correlation Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 60 359 367 477 489 Bibcode 1896RSPS 60 477U doi 10 1098 rspl 1896 0075 Yule G U 1900 On the Association of Attributes in Statistics With Illustrations from the Material of the Childhood Society amp c Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 194 252 261 257 319 Bibcode 1900RSPTA 194 257Y doi 10 1098 rsta 1900 0019 Yule G U Pearson K 1901 On the Theory of Consistence of Logical Class Frequencies and Its Geometrical Representation Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 197 287 299 91 Bibcode 1901RSPTA 197 91Y doi 10 1098 rsta 1901 0015 Yule G U 1902 Mendel s Laws and their probable relations to inter racial heredity New Phytologist 1 10 226 227 doi 10 1111 j 1469 8137 1902 tb07336 x Yule G U 1907 On the Theory of Correlation for any Number of Variables Treated by a New System of Notation Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 79 529 182 193 Bibcode 1907RSPSA 79 182Y doi 10 1098 rspa 1907 0028 hdl 2027 coo 31924081088423 Yule G Udny Introduction to the Theory of Statistics London Griffin 1911 Yule G U 1927 On a Method of Investigating Periodicities in Disturbed Series with Special Reference to Wolfer s Sunspot Numbers Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 226 636 646 267 298 Bibcode 1927RSPTA 226 267Y doi 10 1098 rsta 1927 0007 References Edit Yates F 1952 George Udny Yule 1871 1951 Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 21 308 323 doi 10 1098 rsbm 1952 0020 S2CID 178300526 a b Yule G U 1925 A Mathematical Theory of Evolution Based on the Conclusions of Dr J C Willis F R S PDF Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 213 402 410 21 23 Bibcode 1925RSPTB 213 21U doi 10 1098 rstb 1925 0002 S2CID 86079660 George Udny Yule 1871 1951 Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 21 308 323 1952 doi 10 1098 rsbm 1952 0020 S2CID 178300526 annulment Yates 1952 a b Yoshioka Alan Yule George Udny Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 37086 Subscription or UK public library membership required Wiiliams Richard H Zimmerman Donald W Ross Donald C Zumbo Bruno D 2006 Chapter 5 George Udny Yule Premier British Statistician Twelve British Statisticians Bitingduck Press LLC pp 38 42 ISBN 978 1 932482 44 7 Why Do We Sometimes Get Nonsense Correlations between Time series PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2 June 2016 Retrieved 20 November 2019 pioneer of modern statistics Yates 1952 p 320External links EditWorks by or about Udny Yule at Internet Archive Royal Society citation O Connor John J Robertson Edmund F Udny Yule MacTutor History of Mathematics archive University of St Andrews George Udny Yule Statistical Scientist Portrait Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Udny Yule amp oldid 1131575228, 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