World Renowned Mathematician C. R. Rao Passes Away In NY

Photos: rraoaimscs

India-West News Desk

BUFFALO, NY– World-renowned mathematician Dr. C. R. Rao passed away here on August 23. He was 102.

He was awarded the US National Medal of Science in 2002.

The American Statistical Association has described him as “a living legend whose work has influenced not just statistics but has had far-reaching implications for fields as varied as economics, genetics, anthropology, geology, national planning, demography, biometry, and medicine.”

Rao received 38 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 19 countries around the world and was honored by numerous colloquia.

Rao, who retired in India at the age of sixty, moved to the US to live with his daughter and be around his grandchildren. At age 75, he became an American citizen.

Just a short while ago, at the age of 102, he received what is known as the Nobel Prize in Statistics. The International Prize in Statistics is awarded every two years to an individual or team “for major achievements using statistics to advance science, technology, and human welfare”. Rao was recognized “for his work that continues to exert an influence on science, including the Rao–Blackwell theorem,” it said.

In India, the government gave him the Padma Vibhushan.