Dr. Hirotugu Akaike: 10 Things Students Should About The Statistician
Today, Google is celebrating the 90th Birth Anniversary of
Japanese statistician Dr Hirotugu Akaike with a Doodle that represents his massive contribution to the field of statistics. Dr Hirotugu Akaik had, in the 1970s, formulated the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), which is a criterion for model selection in statistics. Formulation of AIC was heralded as a very new paradigm of statistical modelling. It was set apart and was completely different from traditional statistical theory. The Akaike paradigm greatly influenced a broad area of research in statistics.
Dr. Hirotugu Akaike: 10 Things Students Should About The Statistician
Google Doodle on Dr. Hirotugu Akaike1. Dr. Hirotugu Akaike studied at the Naval Academy of Japan, the First Higher School and the University of Tokyo, where he earned his B.S. degree and his external Doctor of Science degree, both in mathematics.
2.
He joined the Institute of Statistical Mathematics after completing his graduation; the institute was founded by the Japanese government where he was Director of the institute's Fifth Division, concerned with time series analysis and control, from 1973 until 1985. In 1987, he became Director General of the Institute, the position from which he retired on March 31, 1994.
3. Dr. Hirotugu Akaike held visiting positions at a number of universities: Princeton (1966-1967), Stanford (1967, 1979), Hawaii (1972), the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (1973), Harvard (Vinton Hayes Senior Fellow in Engineering and Applied Physics, 1976), Wisconsin-Madison (Mathematics Research Center, 1982) and several Japanese universities.
4. Dr. Hirotugu Akaike has published more than 140 papers and several monographs and textbooks.
5. Dr. Hirotugu Akaike had won several prizes including Ishikawa Prize (1972), Okochi Memorial Technology Prize (1980), Asahi Prize (1989), Purple Ribbon Medal (1989), Japanese Statistical Society Prize (1996), Second Class Order of the Sacred Treasure (2000) and Kyoto Prize (2006). Following his death, he was posthumously conferred with Shou-Shi-i, Japan's Official court rank, on August 4, 2009.
6. He was
Fellow at various scientific institutes and associations like, American Statistical Association, Royal Statistical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Institute of Mathematical Statistics
7. "In the early 1970's, Dr. Hirotugu Akaike formulated the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), a new practical, yet versatile criterion for the selection of statistical models, based on basic concepts of information mathematics. This criterion established a new paradigm that bridged the world of data and the world of modeling, thus contributing greatly to the information and statistical sciences," said the 2006 Kyoto Prize citation.
8. Dr Hirotugu Akaike led the world of the Time Series Analysis in the 1960s by researching and developing the spectral analysis technique, multivariate time series model, statistical control methods and TIMSAC, software for time series analysis.
9. According to famous Dutch statistician and psychometrician
J. de Leeuw, "It is perhaps safe to say that Akaike's main contribution has been in the area of time series analysis. He developed in an early stage of his career the program package TIMSAC, for time series analysis and control, and he and his students have been updating TIMSAC, which is now in its fourth major revision and extension. TIMSAC has been used in many areas of science".
10. Dr Hirotugu Akaike was born on November 5, 1927 in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture and died on August 8, 2009 of pneumonia in Ibaraki Prefecture.
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