THE HISTORY OF STATISTICS IN THE CLASSROOM

I strongly believe that statistics classes at any level can be enlivened by highlighting
colorful contributors to our field. Outlines of some of their research should be supplemented by historical, biographical, and anecdotal material. Laplace (1745-1827) provides a good example. Famous as a theoretical astronomer and mathematician, he is  probably best known to  tatisticians as originator of the central limit theorem. But apparently independently of the publication of Bayes's theorem ten years earlier, he proposed that (in modern language) posterior density is proportional to likelihood. Laplace lived in turbulent times in France. He examined the young Napoleon, but lasted  only six weeks in Napoleon's cabinet. Similar introductions will be given of Gauss and R. A. Fisher, the latter with personal comments.