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Brenda Stoessiger and Roy Clapham-a statistical match in the time of Pearson and Fisher

Publication: Contribution to journalOther contribution to scientific journalpeer-review

Abstract

In 1933 Brenda Stoessiger, a statistician specializing in craniometry, and Roy Clapham, a botanist interested in statistics, married. Marriages between established scientists were rare in England then and, in statistics, unknown. The couple's statistical mentors were the implacably opposed Karl Peason and Ronald Fisher. This paper describes the lives of Stoessiger and Clapham, emphasizing the less well-known Stoessiger. Her activity in craniometry and statistics was representative of its place and time - England, the 1920s through the 40s - as were the opportunities she found and the constraints she faced as a woman, specifically a married woman.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)179-191
Number of pages13
JournalBritish Journal for the History of Mathematics
Volume40
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 British Society for the History of Mathematics.

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