Samuel W. Greenhouse (January 13, 1918 – September 29, 2000) was an American statistician who helped to pioneer the use of statistics in epidemiology.[1] With Seymour Geisser, he developed the Greenhouse–Geisser correction, which is now widely used in the analysis of variance to correct for violations of the assumption of compound symmetry.[1]

Samuel W. Greenhouse
Born(1918-04-13)April 13, 1918
The Bronx, New York, US
DiedSeptember 29, 2000(2000-09-29) (aged 82)
NationalityAmerican
EducationCity College of New York
George Washington University
Known forGreenhouse–Geisser correction
Work on applications of statistical methodology to epidemiology
Role in the development of clinical trial methodology
AwardsAmerican Statistical Association Founders Award (1993)
Scientific career
FieldsStatistics
InstitutionsNational Institutes of Health
George Washington University
Thesis Information theory and the statistical problem of discrimination  (1959)
Doctoral advisorSolomon Kullback

Academic career edit

Greenhouse was one of several founding statisticians at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where, with Jerome Cornfield, Jacob Lieberman, Nathan Mantel, and Marvin Schneiderman, he co-founded the first biometry group in the National Cancer Institute in 1948.[1][2] In 1954, Greenhouse became head of the theoretical statistics and applied mathematics section at the National Institute of Mental Health. He became chief of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's epidemiology and biometry branch in 1966, and continued to work there until 1974, when he joined the faculty of George Washington University (GWU). He chaired the GWU department of statistics twice: in 1976–1979 and in 1985–1986. He retired from the GWU faculty in 1988, whereupon he was named an emeritus professor there.[1]

Honors and awards edit

Greenhouse was a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Statistical Society. He was also an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, and a fellow of the American Heart Association's Council of Epidemiology.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Greenhouse, Joel B.; Lachin, John M. (15 July 2005). "Greenhouse, Samuel W.". Encyclopedia of Biostatistics. John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/0470011815.b2a17057. ISBN 047084907X.
  2. ^ a b Lachin, John M. (12 January 2017). "Samuel W. Greenhouse (1918–2000)". Statisticians in History. Retrieved 13 February 2019.

Further reading edit