Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao, FRS known as C R Rao is an Indian-born, naturalized American,
mathematician and statistician. He is currently professor emeritus at Penn State University
and Research Professor at the University at Buffalo. Rao has been honoured by numerous
colloquia, honorary degrees, and festschrifts and was awarded the US National Medal of Science
in 2002. The American Statistical Association has described him as "a living legend whose
work has influenced not just statistics, but has had far reaching implications for fields
as varied as economics, genetics, anthropology, geology, national planning, demography, biometry,
and medicine." The Times of India listed Rao as one of the top 10 Indian scientists of
all time.
Early life C R Rao was born in Hadagali,Bellary, Karnataka,
India into a Telugu Velama family. He received an M.Sc. in mathematics from Andhra University
and an M.A. in statistics from Calcutta University in 1943. He was among the first few people
in the world to hold a Master's degree in Statistics.
Academic career Rao worked at the Indian Statistical Institute
and the Anthropological Museum in Cambridge before acquiring a Ph.D. degree at King's
College in Cambridge University under R.A. Fisher in 1948, to which he added a Sc.D.
degree, also from Cambridge, in 1965. He held several important positions, as the
Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor and National Professor
in India, University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Eberly Professor and Chair
of Statistics and Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis at the Pennsylvania
State University. As Head and later Director of the Research and Training School at the
Indian Statistical Institute for a period of over 40 years, Rao developed research and
training programs and produced several leaders in the field of Mathematics. On the basis
of Dr. Rao's recommendation, the ASI now known as Statistical Institute for Asia and Pacific
was established in Tokyo to provide training to statisticians working in government and
industrial organizations. Among his best-known discoveries are the Cramér–Rao
bound and the Rao–Blackwell theorem both related to the quality of estimators. Other
areas he worked in include multivariate analysis, estimation theory, and differential geometry.
His other contributions include the Fisher–Rao Theorem, Rao distance, and orthogonal arrays.
He is the author of 14 books and has published over 400 journal publications.
Rao has received over 37 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 19 countries
around the world and numerous awards and medals for his contributions to statistics and science.
He is a member of eight National Academies in India, the United Kingdom, the United States,
and Italy. Rao was awarded the United States National Medal of Science, that nation's highest
award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research, in June 2002. The latest
addition to his collection of awards is the India Science Award for 2010, the highest
honour conferred by the government of India in scientific domain. He has most recently
been honoured with his 38th honorary doctorate by the university at Buffalo in 2013.
He has been the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical
Statistics, and the International Biometric Society. He was inducted into the Hall of
Fame of India's National Institution for Quality and Reliability for his contribution to industrial
statistics and the promotion of quality control programs in industries.
The Journal of Quantitative Economics published a special issue in Rao's honour in 1991. "Dr
Rao is a very distinguished scientist and a highly eminent statistician of our time.
His contributions to statistical theory and applications are well known, and many of his
results, which bear his name, are included in the curriculum of courses in statistics
at bachelor's and master's level all over the world. He is an inspiring teacher and
has guided the research work of numerous students in all areas of statistics. His early work
had greatly influenced the course of statistical research during the last four decades. One
of the purposes of this special issue is to recognize Dr Rao's own contributions to econometrics
and acknowledge his major role in the developmentof econometric researchin India."
Areas of research contributions Estimation theory
Statistical inference and linear models Multivariate analysis
Combinatorial design Orthogonal arrays
Biometry Statistical genetics
Generalized matrix inverses Functional equations
Awards and medals Guy Medal in Gold of the Royal Statistical
Society India Science Award 2010
International Mahalanobis Prize of the International Statistical Institute
Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal of the Indian National Science Academy
President George W. Bush, on June 12, 2002, honoured him with the National Medal of Science,
the highest award in U.S. in the scientific field, as a "prophet of new age" with the
citation, "for his pioneering contributions to the foundations of statistical theory and
multivariate statistical methodology and their applications, enriching the physical, biological,
mathematical, economic and engineering sciences." Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India
Mahalanobis Centenary Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress
Wilks Memorial Award of the American Statistical Association
Megnadh Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy
Guy Medal in Silver of the Royal Statistical Society
S. S. Bhatnagar Award of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
JC Bose Gold Medal of the Bose Institute Gold Medal of the University of Calcutta
He was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Calcutta in 2003.
Also honorary doctorates from a number of universities and institutes around the world.
In his honor The Pennsylvania State University has established
C. R. and Bhargavi Rao Prize in Statistics, CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics,
Statistics and Computer Science National Award in Statistics established by
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.
The road from IIIT Hyderabad passing along Central University of Hyderabad crossroads
to Alind Factory, Lingampally is named as "Prof. C.R. Rao Road".
Selected Publications 2006..Data Mining Using Neural Networks: A
Guide for Statisticians. 1999.. Linear Models: Least Squares and Alternatives,
2ed, Springer Series in Statistics. Springer 1998.. Matrix Algebra & Its Applications to
Statistics & Econometrics. World Scientific 1997. Statistics And Truth: Putting Chance
To Work, 2ed. Wspc 1996. Principal Component and Factor Analyses.
PN 1996. Extensions of a Characterization of
an Exponential Distribution Based on a Censored Ordered Sample.
1996. Bootstrap by Sequential Resampling. PN
1993. Applications of Multivariate Analysis. PN
1992. Signal Estimation, Multitarget Tracking and Related Areas.
1989. Multivariate Analysis and Its Applications. PN
1988. Linear Transformations, Projection Operators and Generalized Inverses; A Geometric Approach.
PN 1984. Recent Results on Characterization of
Probability Distributions: A unified Approach through Extensions of Deny's Theorem. PN
1973. Linear Statistical Inference and Its Applications, 2nd Edition. Wiley-Interscience
1973. On a Unified Theory of Estimation in Linear Models. PN
1973.. Characterization Problems in Mathematical Statistics, Wiley Series in Probability & Mathematical
Statistics. 1972.. Generalized Inverse of Matrices and
Its Applications, Probability & Mathematical Statistics. John Wiley & Sons
1963. Essays on econometrics and planning. Statistical Pub. Society
2015.. Handbook of Statistics 32: Computational Statistics with. Elsevier
2013.. Handbook of Statistics 31: Machine Learning: Theory and Applications. North Holland
2012.. Handbook of Statistics 30: Time Series Analysis: Methods and Applications . North
Holland 2009.. Handbook of Statistics 29A: Sample
Surveys: Design, Methods and Applications. North Holland
2009.. Handbook of statistics 29B Sample Surveys: Inference and Analysis. North Holland
2012.. Handbook of Statistics 28: Bioinformatics in Human Health and Heredity. North Holland
2007.. Handbook of Statistics 27: Epidemiology and Medical Statistics. North Holland
2006.. Handbook of Statistics, Volume 26: Psychometrics. North Holland
2005.. Handbook of Statistics 25: Bayesian Thinking, Modeling and Computation. North
Holland 2005.. Handbook of Statistics 24: Data Mining
and Data Visualization. North Holland 2004.. Handbook of Statistics 23: Advances
in Survival Analysis. North Holland 2003.. Handbook of Statistics 22: Statistics
in Industry. North Holland 2001.. Handbook of Statistics 20: Advances
in Reliability, North-Holland Mathematics Studies. Elsevier
2001.. Handbook of Statistics 19: Stochastic Processes: Theory and Methods. North-Holland
2000.. Handbook of Statistics 18: Bioenvironmental and Public Health Statistics. North-Holland
1998.. Handbook of Statistics 17: Order Statistics: Applications. North-Holland
1998.. Handbook of Statistics 16: Order Statistics: Theory & Methods. North-Holland
1997.. Handbook of Statistics 15: Robust Inference. Elsevier
1996.. Handbook of Statistics 14: Statistical Methods in Finance. Elsevier
1996.. Handbook of Statistics 13: Design and Analysis of Experiments. North Holland
1994.. Handbook of Statistics 12: Environmental Statistics. Elsevier
1993.. Handbook of Statistics 11: Econometrics, Techniques and Instrumentation in Analytical
Chemistry. Elsevier 1993.. Handbook of Statistics 10: Signal Processing
and its Applications, Elsevier 1993.. Handbook of Statistics 9: Computational
Statistics. North-Holland 1991.. Handbook of Statistics 8: Statistical
Methods in Biological and Medical Sciences. North-Holland.
1988.. Handbook of Statistics 7: Quality Control and Reliability.
1988.. Handbook of Statistics 6: Sampling. North-Holland.
NOTE: Handbook of Statistics 1-5 were not edited by C. R. Rao, but by P. R. Krishnaiah.
2011.. Essential Bayesian Models. North Holland 2011.. Essential Methods for Design Based
Sample Surveys. North Holland 1994.. Multivariate Environmental Statistics.,
Volume 6 in North-Holland Series in Statistics and Probability. North Holland
1970. Advanced Statistical Methods in Biometric Research. Macmillan
1969.. Essays in Probability and Statistics, Monograph Series in Probability and Statistics.
The University of North Carolina Press 1995. Advances in Econometrics and Quantitative
Economics, Essays in Honor of Professor C.R. Rao. G. S. Maddala, T. N. Srinivasan, and
Peter C. B. Phillips. Wiley-Blackwell 1982. Statistics and Probability: Essays in
Honor of C. R. Rao.. Kallinapur. Elsevier 1996. Selected Papers of C.R. Rao 3.. S. Das
Gupta et al. Wiley-Interscience 1994. Selected Papers of C.R. Rao 1.. S. Das
Gupta et al. Wiley-Interscience See also
Cramér–Rao bound References
Further reading Nalini Krishnankutty, 1996. Putting Chance
to Work a Life in Statistics: A Biography of C. R. Rao.
Sources Calyampudi Radhakrishnan Rao. University of
Minnesota Morris Statisticians in History: Calyampudi R. Rao".
American Statistical Association "Prof. C R Rao : An Eminent Statistician"
By Bibhuprasad Mohapatra.Govt. of Odisha. External links
C. R. Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, India
Prof. Rao's page at Penn State Prof. Rao's page at the University at Buffalo
ET Interviews: Professor C. R. Rao on the Econometric Theory page.
Royal Society citation 1967 Rao was awarded the Samuel S. Wilks Award
in 1989 C.R. Rao at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
For the Cramér–Rao inequality and the Rao–Blackwell theorem see the relevant entries on
Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics
Photograph of Rao with Harald Cramér in 1978 C. R. Rao from the PORTRAITS OF STATISTICIANS
President George Bush awarding Rao the National Medal of Science