Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Indian statistician, remembered with a Google doodle on 125th birth anniversary

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was one of the members of the first Planning Commission of India.

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was remembered by Google on his 125th birth anniversary on Friday. Google paid tribute to the Indian scientist with a doodle by Nishant Choksi. Mahalanobis was born on June 29, 1893, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in British India. He received his early schooling at the Brahmo Boys School, from where he graduated in 1908. He is remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure. He was also one of the members of the first Planning Commission of India. He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India. He also contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.

The noted scientist was born into a family of intellectuals. His grandfather Gurucharan moved to Calcutta from Bikrampur (now in Bangladesh) in 1854 and started a business. Gurucharan was influenced by Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore.

Also read | Understanding the legacy of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was known as “PCM” to colleagues (Express illustration: C R Sasikumar)

In 1912, Mahalanobis received his Bachelor of Science degree with honours in Physics. He left for England in 1913 to study at the King’s College at Cambridge. He also interacted with mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan during the latter’s time at Cambridge. After completing his studies, he returned to India. He was introduced to the Principal of Presidency College in Calcutta and was invited to take classes in Physics.

Also read | Who was Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis or ‘PCM’?

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Mahalanobis is also known for his contribution to the practice of conducting surveys. He introduced the concept of pilot surveys and advocated the importance of sampling methods. He also introduced a method for estimation of crop yields using statistical sampling.

The scientist died on June 28, 1972, a day before his seventy-ninth birthday.