Nils Lid Hjort

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Nils Lid Hjort

Nils Lid Hjort (born 1953) is a Norwegian statistician, and has been a professor of mathematical statistics at the University of Oslo since 1991. Hjort's research themes are unusually varied, with particularly noteworthy contributions in the fields of Bayesian probability (Beta processes for use in non- and semi-parametric models), density estimation (local likelihood methodology), and model selection (focussed information criteria and model averaging). An article on frequentist model averaging, with co-author Gerda Claeskens, was selected as Fast Breaking Paper in the field of mathematics by the Essential Science Indicators in 2005. Hjort is an elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters since 1999.

On the applied side, Hjort demonstrated in 1994 that there is a small but Olympically significant difference between inner-lane and outer-lane starts for 500-m speedskating races, after a systematic analysis of world sprint championships data, implying that the Olympic 500-m event has been unfair since 1924. As a result of Hjort's work and initiative, the International Skating Union and the International Olympic Committee changed the rules; since Nagano 1998 onwards, the sprint skaters race the 500-m twice, with one start in inner lane and one start in outer lane. He is also a regular contributor to the Speedskating World magazine.

Hjort's other interests include Disney comics (where he has given public lectures and written scholarly articles for various publishers), choir singing (taking part in more than ten CD recordings with Grex Vocalis), gøbbing (exchanging ideas with members of a think tank) and cross-country skiing. He has edited two books with the works of notable Disney comics artist Don Rosa. He is sometimes nicknamed "The Nutty Professor", because of his tendency to initiate and take part in discussions in various fora with perspectives and opinions that may appear moderately idiosyncratic to outsiders. Among his earned distinctions is the honour of being forcefully thrown out of the Korean Friendship Association.