<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:garamond,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">Dear colleagues <br><br><br>Here below follows a call for help by G. Parolini, who looks out for material on statistics and computing in biology in the UK, 30s to 70s. <br>She's as cc for those who may want to help, <br><br><br>Best,<br><br><br>Sandra Mols<br><br><div> <div style="font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: tahoma,new york,times,serif; font-size: 10pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2">----- Forwarded Message ----<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Giuditta Parolini <giuditta.parolini2@UNIBO.IT><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> MERSENNE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Mon, 14 June, 2010 14:22:06<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b>
Request of reading advices on statistics and computing in agriculture and life sciences<br></font><br>Hi,<br>I am a PhD student at the University of Bologna<br>(<a href="http://www.cis.unibo.it/sth/doc_students/curricula/parolini.html" target="_blank">http://www.cis.unibo.it/sth/doc_students/curricula/parolini.html</a>)<br>interested in the development of statistics in agricultural and<br>biological research in UK (especially from 1930s to 1970s).<br><br>I want to examine as a case study the development of the statistical<br>researches related to life sciences at<br>Rothamsted experimental station and the Galton Laboratory. As I am<br>interested in the history of computing, I want to investigate in<br>particular which role had computing technologies (mechanical<br>calculators, punched cards machines and electronic computers) in the<br>development of statistical practices and methodologies and in the<br>local negotiations among statisticians,
biologists and agricultural<br>scientists. Key figures in my research will be R.A. Fisher, Frank<br>Yates (Fisher's successor at Rothamsted) and Cedric A.B. Smith<br>(statistician at the Galton Laboratory headed by Penrose).<br><br>I am looking for sources on various aspects:<br>- the history of statistics - and more generally the history of<br>quantification - in agriculture and life sciences for the period<br>1930s-1970s<br>- the use of computing technologies in statistics, especially with<br>relation to agriculture and life sciences<br>- the visual culture of statistics in 20th century<br><br>Can you help me with reading suggestions? You can write to my email<br>address <a ymailto="mailto:giuditta.parolini2@unibo.it" href="mailto:giuditta.parolini2@unibo.it">giuditta.parolini2@unibo.it</a><br><br>Best regards,<br>Giuditta Parolini<br></div></div></div>
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