The Rearview Podcast | PC Mahalanobis: India’s First Data Cruncher

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1893–1972) was a Bengali statistician and institution-builder who became one of the most consequential figures in twentieth-century Indian science. Trained as a physicist in Calcutta and Cambridge, he discovered statistics almost by accident through an encounter with Biometrika, and went on to found the Indian Statistical Institute in 1931 out of a small laboratory at Presidency College, Calcutta.

His most enduring scientific contribution was the D² statistic — a measure of distance between populations that emerged from his early anthropometric work on race mixture in Bengal and his critical re-analysis of Risley’s colonial survey data. He enjoyed close professional relationships with founding fathers of the statistical field – Karl Pearson and R.A. Fisher, though his dealings with Pearson were marked by a significant dispute over publication.

Through the ISI he shaped Indian statistical practice across sampling, agricultural experiments, and economic planning, exercising powerful influence over the National Sample Survey and the Planning Commission.

In this episode, we learn more about Mahalanobis and his impactful contributions. Tune in!

Hosts: Sobhana K Nair & Jacob Koshy

Producer: Jude Weston

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