Robert Wedderburn (statistician)

Robert William Maclagan Wedderburn (1947–1975) was a Scottish statistician who worked at the Rothamsted Experimental Station. He was co-developer, with John Nelder, of the generalized linear model methodology,[1] and then expanded this subject to develop the idea of quasi-likelihood.[2]

Wedderburn was born in Edinburgh, where he attended Fettes College, then studied for a degree and a diploma in statistics at the University of Cambridge.[3] He died aged 28 of anaphylactic shock from an insect bite while on a canal holiday.[4]

"His colleagues remember him as someone of engaging diffidence, who would nonetheless hold his own in argument when he was sure he was right (as he usually was)." — John Nelder[3]

References

  1. ^ Nelder, John A; Wedderburn, Robert W (1972). "Generalized linear models". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), Vol. 135, No. 3) 135 (3): 370–384. doi:10.2307/2344614. JSTOR 2344614. 
  2. ^ Wedderburn, RWM (1974). "Quasi-likelihood functions, generalized linear models, and the Gauss—Newton method". Biometrika 61 (3): 439–447. doi:10.1093/biomet/61.3.439. 
  3. ^ a b Nelder, John (1975). Obituary: Robert William Maclagan Wedderburn, 1947-1975. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) Vol. 138, No. 4 , p. 587
  4. ^ Senn, Stephen (2003). "A conversation with John Nelder". Statistical Science 18 (1): 118–131. doi:10.1214/ss/1056397489. http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ss/1056397489.