| Code | BPS/GB/303 |
| Name | Pearson; Sir; Karl (1857-1936); Professor; Statistician |
| PreTitle | Sir |
| Title | Professor |
| Forenames | Karl |
| Surname | Pearson |
| Dates | 1857-1936 |
| Epithet | Statistician |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | British |
| DatesAndPlaces | Born 27 March 1957 London |
| Activity | Karl Pearson was born in London on the 27th March 1857. He was educated privately at University College School, after which he went to King's College Cambridge to study mathematics. He then spent part of 1879 and 1880 studying medieval and 16th century German literature at the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg - in fact, he became sufficently knowledgeable in this field that he was offered a post in the German department at Cambridge University.
His next career move was to Lincoln's Inn, where he read law until 1881 (although he never practised). After this, he returned to mathematics, deputising for the mathematics professor at King's College London in 1881 and for the professor at University College London in 1883. In 1884, he was appointed to the Goldshmid Chair of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics at University College London. 1891 saw him also appointed to the professorship of Geometry at Gresham College; here he met W.F.R. Weldon, a zoologist who had some interesting problems requiring quantitative solutions. The collaboration, in biometry and evolutionary theory, was a fruitful one and lasted until Weldon died in 1906. Weldon introduced Pearson to Francis Galton, who was interested in aspects of evolution such as heredity and eugenics, and this was another very rewarding partnership, more for the developments in statistics it led to than for the eugenics, some of which is rather problematic for a modern reader with knowledge of subsequent developments.
Galton died in 1911 and left the residue of his estate to the University of London for a Chair in Eugenics. Pearson was the first holder of this chair, in accordance with Galton's wishes. He formed the Department of Applied Statistics, into which he incorporated the Biometric and Galton laboratories. He remained with the department until his retirement in 1933, and continued to work until his death in 1936.
Pearson married Maria Sharpe in 1890, and between them they had 2 daughters and a son. The son, Egon Sharpe Pearson, succeeded him as head of the Applied Statistics Department at University College.
Aside from his professional life, Pearson was active as a prominent free thinker and socialist. He gave lectures on such issues as "the woman's question" (this was the era of the suffragette movement in the UK) and upon Karl Marx. His commitment to socialism and its ideals led him to refuse an OBE (Order of the British Empire) when it was offered in 1920, and also a Knighthood in 1935. |
| Source | UCL Statistics Department website https://www.ucl.ac.uk/statistics/department/pearson |
| Conventions | International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN ISBN 0-9696035-3-3
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 |
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