Erich L. Lehmann, the Lehmann Symposia, and November 20Th 1917 3
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IMS Collections Vol. 0 (2009) 1{7 c Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2009 1 1 arXiv: math.PR/0000021 2 2 3 3 4 Erich L. Lehmann, The Lehmann 4 5 5 th 6 Symposia, and November 20 1917 6 7 7 8 Javier Rojo?? 8 9 9 Rice University 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 The Lehmann Symposia originated as a result of a conversation I had in the 13 14 year 2001 with the, then, Director of the Centro de Investigaci´onen Matem´aticas 14 15 (CIMAT), Victor P´erez-Abreu.We both felt that there was an urgent need to 15 16 bring back into focus theoretical statistics and our proposed solution was a series 16 17 of Symposia that could serve as a forum for some of the exciting theoretical work 17 18 being done in statistics. The First Lehmann Symposium took place at CIMAT in 18 19 May of 2002. Most of the participants were Mexican colleagues. The program can 19 20 be seen at the site http://www.stat.rice.edu/lehmann/1st-Lehmann.html. The 20 21 second Lehmann Symposium { http://www.stat.rice.edu/lehmann/ { was held 21 22 in May of 2004 at the School of Engineering at Rice University. Initially, the venues 22 23 for the Symposia would alternate between CIMAT and Rice University. However, 23 24 for various reasons, some being financial, it was decided to hold the 3rd Lehmann 24 25 Symposium in the United States. 25 26 The original plans for the Third Lehmann Symposium were to hold the sym- 26 27 posium at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley dur- 27 28 ing the month of November of 2007. The Third Symposium, however, ended up 28 29 being held at Rice University for a second time during May of 2007. See http: 29 30 //www.stat.rice.edu/~jrojo/3rd-Lehmann/. I co-edited webcasts of the Second 30 31 and Third Symposia, and these webcasts are freely available to the public. They 31 32 can be found at the following sites: 32 33 http://webcast.rice.edu/webcast.php?action=details&event=408 | second 33 34 symposium, and 34 35 http://webcast.rice.edu/webcast.php?action=details&event=1057 | third 35 36 symposium. 36 37 But why was the venue for the Third Symposium changed from California back to 37 38 Texas, and why was the date changed from November 20th, 2007 to May 16th, 2007? 38 39 There were very good reasons for holding the opening of the Symposium on Novem- 39 40 ber 20th, 2007. For example, November 20th, 2007 was the silver anniversary of the 40 41 greatest big game of all time. See, for example: http://www.alumni.berkeley. 41 42 edu/KCAA_Multimedia/The_Play_1982.asp. Another good reason to start the Sym- 42 43 posium on November 20th was to co-celebrate, with our Mexican counterparts, the 43 44 start of the first major 20th century revolution. The Mexican revolution started on 44 45 November 20th, 1910 to remove the dictator Porfirio D´ıazwho had remained in 45 46 power for 30 years. This revolution led to the Constitution of 1917 and the start of 46 47 the Partido Revolucionario Institucional that held power until 2000 when a candi- 47 48 date from the Partido Acci´onNacional, Vicente Fox, won the Presidential election. 48 49 Francisco I. Madero, with the help of Francisco Villa, took over from Porfirio D´ıaz. 49 50 50 51 ??Department of Statistics, MS-138; Rice University; 6100 Main Street; Houston, TX 77005; 51 1 imsart-coll ver. 2008/08/29 file: Rojo3_Lehmann2.tex date: July 2, 2009 on November 20th, 1910 to remove the dictator Porfirio Diaz from power. This revolution led to the Constitution of 1917 and the start of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional that held power until the general election of 2000. Francisco I. Madero, supported by, among others, Francisco Villa, took over from Porfirio Diaz. 2 Javier Rojo 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 Francisco Villa Porfirio Diaz Francisco I. Madero 13 14 14 15 The left and right images are taken from the Wikimedia Commons, and are available 15 th 16 fromT thehe UnitedConsitut Statesion of Library1917, si ofgne Congress'sd in Februa Printsry 5 andof tha Photographst year, is the Division current underMexican 16 digital records ID npcc-19554 and ggbain-01887, respectively. The middle image is in 17 Constitution. The year of 1917, as it turned out, was a very significant year in the history of the 17 the public domain and it was taken from Project Gutenberg, and is available from 18 worEnockld. (1912). 18 19 19 Some of the significant events of 1917 20 20 The Constitution of 1917, signed in February 5th of that year, is the current Mexican 21 January 28 - The United States ends search for Pancho Villa. 21 Constitution. The year of 1917, as it turned out, was a very significant year in the 22 22 historyFebru ofar they 5 - world. Mexican Constitution is adopted. 23 23 February 24 - World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page is 24 24 Some of the Significant Events of 1917 25 given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American 25 26 February 5 - TheSouthw Mexicanest back to Constitution Mexico, if Mexi isco w adoptedill declare by war the on the Mexican United St Congressates. in 26 27 theM Cityarch of31 Queretaro,- The United and State thiss take Constitutions possession of the continues Virgin Isla tonds beafte ther payi Mexicanng $25 mill Magnaion 27 28 28 Carta. to Denmark. 29 29 February 7 - The United States ends the search for Pancho Villa. The Mexican 30 April 6.- The United States declares war on Germany. 30 expedition, as it is known, was led by General Pershing and had the objective of 31 31 capturingApril 16 Francisco - Lenin (Pancho)arrives in Pe Villatrograd. who had crossed over and ransacked Columbus, 32 32 New Mexico. Pershing was unable to capture Villa, and after several encounters 33 33 with various groups, including the Mexican army, Pershing and his forces returned 34 34 to the United States in February 1917. 35 35 36 February 24 - President Woodrow Wilson is presented with a deciphered German 36 37 telegram { the Zimmermann telegram, in which Germany offers to give American 37 38 territory back to Mexico, if Mexico will declare war on the United States. 38 39 March 31 - The United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands after paying 39 40 $25 million to Denmark. 40 41 April 6 - As a result of the deciphering of the Zimmermann telegram, the United 41 42 States Congress declares war on Germany. 42 43 43 44 April 11 - Babe Ruth pitches for the Boston Red Sox and beats the New York 44 45 Yankees 10-3, allowing 3 hits. On January 5th, 1920, Ruth was traded to the New 45 46 York Yankees and thus started the Bambino Curse for the Red Sox. The curse was 46 47 finally broken 84 years later when the Sox defeated the Cardinals in the 2004 World 47 48 Series. 48 49 April 16 - Lenin arrives in Petrograd. 49 50 50 51 email: [email protected] 51 imsart-coll ver. 2008/08/29 file: Rojo3_Lehmann2.tex date: July 2, 2009 Erich L. Lehmann, The Lehmann Symposia, and November 20th 1917 3 1 May 17 - The paper \On the distribution of the correlation coefficient in small sam- 1 2 ple. Appendix I to the papers of \Student" and R. A. Fisher. A cooperative study", 2 3 by H.E. Soper, A.W. Young, B.M. Cave, A. Lee and K. Pearson, (Biometrika 1917 3 4 11: 328-413; doi:10.1093/biomet/11.4.328), and the paper \I. Tables for estimating 4 5 the Probability that the Mean of a unique Sample of Observations lies between -1 5 6 and any given Distance of the Mean of the Population from which the Sample is 6 7 drawn" by \Student" (Biometrika 1917 11: 414-417; doi:10.1093/biomet/11.4.414) 7 8 are published. The former would include a criticism of Fisher's maximum likelihood 8 9 principle that helped ignite a feud between Fisher and Pearson. 9 10 May 18 - The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President 10 11 the power of conscription. 11 12 12 July 4 - Petrograd Street demonstration - The Bolshevik revolution looms in the 13 13 horizon. 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 29 29 30 30 31 Days of revolution - barricades at the Arcenal [i.e., Arsenal], Petrograd. The photo is 31 taken from the Library of Congress under lot 2398, reproduction number LC-USZ62- 32 25298, 1917. 32 33 33 34 34 November 7 - Bolshevik Revolution begins: The workers of St. Petersburg in 35 35 Russia, led by the Bolsheviks and the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, attacked 36 36 the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government. 37 37 38 November 20 - Ukraine is declared a republic. 38 39 39 November 20, 1917 and Beyond 40 40 41 Amidst the shadows of war and civil unrest, a small burst of light began to shine 41 42 in Strasbourg, France. Erich Leo Lehmann was born November 20th, 1917 { a mere 42 43 7 months after The United States entered the First World War.