C R Rao, an Indian-American mathematician and statistician, has achieved the unthinkable – at the age of 102, he is being awarded the 2023 International Prize in Statistics, which is the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in its field. Rao is being recognized for his numerous accomplishments in revolutionizing statistical thinking 75 years ago, with his monumental work that still exerts a profound impact in the realm of science.
The award comes with an $80,000 prize, which Rao will receive at the International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress this July in Ottawa, Ontario. Guy Nason, chair of the International Prize in Statistics Foundation, spoke highly of Rao’s landmark contributions: “In awarding this prize, we celebrate the monumental work by C R Rao that not only revolutionized statistical thinking in its time but also continues to exert enormous influence on human understanding of science across a wide spectrum of disciplines”.
In 1945, Rao published a journal in the Bulletin of the Calcutta Mathematical Society that provided three fundamental results – the Cramer-Rao lower bound, the Rao-Blackwell Theorem, and insights into information geometry – that helped to form the basis of modern-day statistics. The Cramer-Rao lower bound enables researchers to learn when estimating a quantity is as good as any method can be. The Rao-Blackwell Theorem offers a means for transforming an estimate into a better one. Lastly, information geometry has been used in radars, antennas, and artificial intelligence, as well as data science, signal processing, shape classification, and image segregation.
Rao was born in Hadagali, Karnataka and was schooled in Gudur, Nuzwid, Nandigama, and Visakhapatnam. He received his MSc degree in mathematics from Andhra University and his MA in statistics from Calcutta University. He went on to earn his PhD at King’s College at Cambridge University and his DSc degree at Cambridge, as well. Rao worked at the Indian Statistical Institute and the Anthropological Museum at Cambridge before working in numerous esteemed positions, such as Director of the Indian Statistical Institute and Jawaharlal Nehru Professor and National Professor in India. His current roles are Professor Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and Research Professor at the University at Buffalo.
Rao has not gone unseen for his many accomplishments, being awarded the titles of Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government (1968) and Padma Vibhushan (2001). The International Prize in Statistics is an award given by a collaboration between five leading international statistics organisations. It recognizes major achievements in the field of statistics, particularly achievements involving powerful and original ideas that have led to breakthroughs in other disciplines. This prestigious award is modelled after awards such as the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal, and Turing Award.
The International Prize in Statistics is a much-deserved honour for Rao, who has made groundbreaking contributions to statistician thinking and provided statistical tools for a wide variety of sciences. His work continues to influence and revolutionize modern-day research, and his story is an inspiration for people of any age or field of study.
