The emergence of French statistics. How mathematics entered the world of statistics in France during the 1920s.

Rémi Catellier (1) , Laurent Mazliak (2, 3)

1 CMLA - Centre de Mathématiques et de Leurs Applications
2 IMJ - Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu
3 LPMA - Laboratoire de Probabilités et Modèles Aléatoires

This paper concerns the emergence of modern mathematical statistics in France after First World War. Emile Borel's achievements are presented, and especially his creation of two institutions where mathematical statistics were developed, the Statistical Institute of Paris University, (ISUP) in 1922 and above all the Henri Poincaré Institute (IHP) in 1928. At the IHP, a new journal Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincaré was created in 1931. We present the first papers dealing with mathematical statistics.

Mots clés: History of statistics; Emile Borel; randomness; Georges Darmois; Alf Guldberg; cumulants

Domaines: Histoire et perspectives sur les mathématiques [math.HO]; Statistiques [math.ST]

Rémi Catellier, Laurent Mazliak. The emergence of French statistics. How mathematics entered the world of statistics in France during the 1920s.. 2009. ⟨hal-00397750v1⟩