Edwin Bidwell Wilson | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 25, 1879 |
| Died | December 28, 1964 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Yale University Harvard College |
| Known for | Wilson score interval |
| Awards | Distinguished Civilian Service Award (US Navy, 1960) Superior Civilian Service Award (US Navy, 1964) Lewis Award (American Philosophical Society, 1963) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics Statistics Aeronautics |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Doctoral advisor | Josiah Willard Gibbs |
| Doctoral students | Jane Worcester |
Edwin Bidwell Wilson (April 25, 1879 – December 28, 1964) was an American mathematician, statistician, physicist and general polymath.[1] He was the sole protégé of Yale University physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs and was mentor to MIT economist Paul Samuelson.[2] Wilson had a distinguished academic career at Yale and MIT, followed by a long and distinguished period of service as a civilian employee of the US Navy in the Office of Naval Research. In his latter role, he was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the highest honorary award available to a civilian employee of the US Navy. Wilson made broad contributions to mathematics, statistics and aeronautics, and is well known for producing a number of widely used textbooks. He is perhaps best known for his derivation of the eponymously named Wilson score interval, which is a confidence interval used widely in statistics.