The History of the ISI

"The ISI of the future must be regarded as more embracing than the single society of elected members that we have been in the past … On every hand there is a new dependence upon statistics and statisticians. … There is a crying need for world leadership in this field."

Stuart Rice, President (1947–1953)

stuart-rice
Adolphe Quételet

 

The origins of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) can be traced back to a series of International Statistical Congresses, the first of which was convened by Adolphe Quetelet in 1853 in Brussels. 

The ISI was formally founded in 1885, during a meeting held to celebrate the Jubilee of the London Statistical Society. 

The initial 81 members were the elite of that era’s statisticians in government and academia. 

They established our first statutes, and our first half-century was a period of general stability. Major changes, such as a proposed affiliation in 1920 with the League of Nations, were resisted.

ISI presidents

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Xuming He, President-Elect
2023 - 2025
Xuming He

Xuming He is a st atistician known for his contributions to statistical methodology and its applications in various fields. He has made significant contributions to the development of statistical methods for complex data sets and has published research papers in reputable journals.

USA
Stephen Penneck, President (2021-2023)
2021-2023
Stephen Penneck

Stephen Penneck is a British statistician who has made significant contributions to the field of official statistics.

UK
John Bailer, University Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Statistics Miami University
2019 – 2021
A. John Bailer

John Bailer is an American statistician. His work focuses on risk assessment in occupational health, and combining journalism to statistics. 

USA
Helen MacGillivray
2017 – 2019
Helen MacGillivray

Helen Louise MacGillivray is an Australian statistician and statistics educator. She is a past president of the International Association for Statistical Education and of the Statistical Society of Australia.

Australia
Pedro Luis do Nascimento Silva
2015 – 2017
Pedro Luis do Nascimento Silva

Pedro Silva has been working in the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics since 1981. He was the first Brazilian to assume the presidency of the International Statistical Institute.

Brazil
Vijay Nair
2013 – 2015
Vijay Nair

Vijay Nair served as President of the International Statistical Institute and President of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics. 

USA
Jae C. Lee
2011 – 2013
Jae Chang Lee

Jae Chang Lee served as the President of ISI, IASC and co-editor of CSDA.

Korea, South
Jozef Teugels
2009 – 2011
Jozef L. Teugels

Jozef Teugels is a Belgian statistician who has made significant contributions to the field of probability and statistics. He has conducted research in various areas, including order statistics, extreme value theory, reliability theory, and stochastic modelling. 

Belgium
Denise Lievesley
2007 – 2009
Denise A. Lievesley

Denise Lievesley is a British statistician and social scientist. She has made significant contributions to the field of statistics and has been actively involved in promoting the use of statistics for policy-making and social research.

UK
Niels Keiding
2005 – 2007
Niels Keiding

Niels Keiding was a Danish statistician known for his significant contributions to biostatistics and the field of statistical methodology. He has made notable research advancements in areas such as survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, and causal inference.

Denmark
Stephen Stigler
2003 – 2005
Stephen M. Stigler

Stephen M. Stigler is an American statistician and historian of statistics. He is known for his contributions to statistical theory and methodology, particularly in the field of historical statistics. 

USA
Dennis Trewin
2001 – 2003
Dennis Trewin

Dennis Trewin, an Australian former public servant, held the position of Australian Statistician, leading the Australian Bureau of Statistics during his tenure.

Australia
Jean-Louis Bodin
1999 – 2001
Jean-Louis Bodin

Jean-Louis Bodin is the former ISI President, former IAOS President and retired from INSEE, the French National statistical Institute.

 

France
Willem A. Zwet
1997 – 1999
Willem A. Zwet

Willem A. Zwet was a Dutch mathematician and statistician. He is known for his contributions to the field of stochastic processes, particularly in the area of probability theory. Zwet has made significant research contributions in the study of martingales, random fields, and semimartingales.

The Netherlands
Sir David Cox
1995 – 1997
David Cox

David Cox was a British statistician and educator. Notable among his contributions are logistic regression, the proportional hazards model, and the Cox process.

 

UK
Jayanta Kumar Ghosh
1993 – 1995
Jayanta Kumar Ghosh

Jayanta Kumar Ghosh, an Indian statistician, was a distinguished emeritus professor at the Indian Statistical Institute and also held a professorship in statistics at Purdue University.

India
Frederick Mosteller
1991 – 1993
Frederick Mosteller

Frederick Mosteller, an esteemed American mathematician, was widely regarded as one of the foremost statisticians of the 20th century.

USA
Gunnar Kulldorff
1989 – 1991
Gunnar Kulldorff

Gunnar Kulldorff was a Swedish statistician, specializing in estimation theory, survey sampling and order statistics. 

Sweden
Ivan Fellegi
1987 – 1989
Ivan Fellegi

Ivan Fellegi is an honorary member of the International Statistical Institute, of the Statistical Society of Canada and an honorary Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Canada
1985 – 1987
1985 – 1987
Sigeiti Moriguti

Sigeiti Moriguti was a Japanese statistician.

Japan
James Durbin
1983 – 1985
James Durbin

James Durbin was a British statistician and econometrician, known particularly for his work on time series analysis and serial correlation.

UK
Jozef Olenski
1981 – 1983
Enrique Cansado Maceda

Enrique Cansado Maceda has provided a relevant service to the Spanish statistical culture

Chile
Edmond Malinvaud
1979 – 1981
Edmond Malinvaud

Throughout his career, he has succeeded in reconciling administrative responsibilities with a research and teaching activity at the highest level and with a very broad spectrum.

France
Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao
1977 – 1979
Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao

Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao was the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the International Biometric Society. 

India
Milos Macura
1975 – 1977
Miloš Macura

Miloš Macura - University professor; director of the Serbian Federal Statistical Office.

Serbia
Petter Jakob Bjerve
1971–1975
Petter Jakob Bjerve

Petter Jakob Bjerve was a Norwegian economist and statistician. Prominent positions include director of Statistics Norway, Norwegian Minister of Finance, and president of the International Statistical Institute.

Norway
William G. Cochran
1967–1971
William G. Cochran

William G. Cochran was a prominent statistician, born in Scotland but spent most of his life in the United States.

USA
Jozef Olenski
1963–1967
Sir Harry Campion

Sir Harry Campion was the first Director of the Central Statistical Office, and first Director of the United National Statistical Officece, played a prominent part in the development, after the Second World War, of official statistics in the UK and internationally.

UK
marcello boldrini
1960–1963
Marcello Boldrini

As a statistician, Marcello Boldrini has been particularly interested to the foundations of the method, and he proposed a view of statistics as an empirical history of all the positive sciences

Italy
Georges Darmois
1953–1960
Georges Darmois

Georges Darmois was a French mathematician and statistician. He was President of the International Institute of Statistics from 1953 until his death.

France
Walter Willcox
1947–1947
Walter Francis Willcox

Walter Willcox initiated the first statistics course at Cornell University in 1892, one of the earliest university courses in statistics in the United States, and one among 16 universities with such courses in the 1890s.

USA
Jozef Olenski
1936–1947
Armand Julin

Armand Julin was the first president of the Royal Statistical Society of Belgium and at the same time president of the International Statistical Institute.

Belgium
Jozef Olenski
1931–1936
Friedrich Zahn

Friedrich Zahn was an internationally recognized German statistician, President of the German Statistical Society and Honorary President of the International Statistical Institute.

Germany
Jozef Olenski
1923–1931
Albert Delatour

Albert Delatour was a member of the International Statistical Institute from 1891, sponsored by Alfred de Foville and Alfred Neymarc, then became ISI's president between 1920 and 1931. He was honorary president at the end of his life.

France
Stuart A. Rice
1947–1953
Stuart A. Rice

Stuart Rice strived to make the ISI the umbrella for all kinds of statistical interests and activities, which is reflected by the current seven ISI Associations as well as the breadth of conferences, meetings and publications.

USA
Karl Theodor von Inama Sternegg
1899–1908
Karl von Inama-Sternegg

Karl von Inama-Sternegg was a German-Austrian political scientist, statistician and economic historian. From 1899 to 1908, he was the second President of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), succeeding Rawson William. 

Austria
Luigi Bodio
1909–1920
Luigi Bodio

Luigi Bodio was one of the “founding fathers” of the ISI and chaired it since 1909. At the time of the first meeting of the ISC, he was president of the Italian Superior Statistical Council and a senator.

Italy
Sir Rawson W. Rawson
1885–1899
Sir Rawson W. Rawson

Sir Rawson William Rawson was the founding president of the International Statistical Institute. From 1884-1886, he also served as the president of the Statistical Society (now called the Royal Statistical Society).

United Kingdom
Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale & First Achievements

There are several interesting examples of the early development and applications of statistics by ISI members. For example, Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in the development of statistical graphics to visually represent data. She developed diagrams called coxcombs and used them to illustrate the various causes of death during the Crimean War.

In the fourth of the series of articles devoted to the 135th anniversary of the ISI, Jean-Louis Bodin, former ISI President (1999-2001) while describing one of the first achievements of the ISI after its creation in 1885 says: "The first of ISI's objectives led the ISI to prepare and propose international classifications; the first one to come into existence was the International Classification of Diseases and Causes of Death. First discussions about this classification were made during the 1st International Statistical Congress held in Brussels in 1853."

Beginnings of ISI

In June 1885, the Statistical Society of London organised its Golden Jubilee Meeting. The Society was created in 1834, but the Jubilee’s celebration was postponed by one year because of the sudden death of the Duke of Albany, the fourth son of HM the Queen Victoria, on 28 March 1884.

Adolphe Quételet

Creation of the ISI in London on 24 June 1885

The creation of the ISI in London on 24 June 1885 was the result of a long history of statistical international cooperation initiated in 1851. The first half of the 19th century saw the birth of many learned statistical societies: e.g., in UK (London, Manchester), in Ireland (Dublin), in USA (Boston where ASA was created in 1839) and in France (Marseilles).

Prince Albert

1885 – 1887: From the Creation of the ISI to its 1st Session in Rome

The decisions taken on 24 June 1885 were based on a report proposing possible organisation for the future ISI prepared by Prof Franz von Neumann-Spallart, member of the Imperial Statistical Commission of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and professor of statistics at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Prof. Franz von Neumann-Spallart

The first achievements of the ISI after its creation in 1885

This fourth paper of Jean-Louis Bodein describes some of the first achievements of the ISI.

history

1885 - 2020: The ISI and its Founding Members

The ISI was established in London on 24 June 1885 during a meeting organised by the presidents of the Statistical Society of London and the Société de Statistique de Paris. During this meeting, 56 members were elected and are therefore considered the pioneers and founders of our Institute.

history

History of the International Statistical Institute

1885
1885 - 1960
1887-1938
1947
1947
1957
1979
1985
2011
Foundation
1885
Body

The International Statistical Institute, back then also know as L’Institut International de Statistique, was formally founded in June 1885, during a meeting held to celebrate the Jubilee of the London Statistical Society. 

The first ISI members were the elite of that era’s statisticians in government and academia.The first President of the ISI was Rawson W. Rawson who served from 1885 to 1899, the year he died. 

Other early Presidents also served long terms. Since 1975, however, the terms of Presidents have been limited to two years. Of the 36 ISI Presidents so far, 20 were from Europe, 8 from North America, 4 from Asia, 2 from South America, and 2 from Australia.

J. W. Nixon
1885 - 1960
Body

International co-operation of statisticians is one of the oldest forms of organised contact between scientific workers beyond national borders. This exceptional situation is even more emphasized when taking into account that the International Statistical Institute had already been precede by the International Congreses.

Read the book.

First World Statistics Congress
1887-1938
Body

The first ISI Session (now called World Statistics Congress) was held in Rome in 1887

These conferences were regular biennial events until the 1938 meeting in Prague, which was cancelled in its second day because of the threat of war. 

The ISI essentially went into hibernation until 1947 when the next Session was held in New York. 

Stuart Rice (President, 1947–1953), who was the primary organiser, had an ambitious goal of adapting the ISI to a new era.

Modification of Mission
1947
Body

Before the Second World War, the ISI had sought to influence governmental statistical agencies by facilitating collaboration and by encouraging uniformity in statistical definitions and data collection. But this role was largely taken over by the newly created United Nations. 

The mission of the ISI was modified in 1947 to emphasize international communication among statisticians rather than with governments, and supporting the international promotion and dissemination of research as well as practice of statistics. 

This largely remains as our mission until today.

Consultative Status with ECOSOC, UN
1947
Body

ISI has had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations since 1947, which allows us to participate in the annual UN Statistics Commission and other relevant UN activities. 

At the occasion of the 44th UN Statistical Commission meeting in 2013, the ISI leadership team met with Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, to discuss collaborations between the UN Statistical Commission and the ISI.

History of ISI Associations
1957
Body

The other major change introduced in 1947 was the idea of Sections (now called ISI Associations) of the ISI. 

While the first Section was formally adopted only in 1957, the fruits of this far-reaching innovation are clearly evident today with seven Associations that cover the wide spectrum of statistical sciences and applications. 

This change spelled the emergence of a new type of professional society, one that facilitated international communication among groups of individuals with common interests, not all of them members. The ISI was to be the organisational key to international statistics; it did not pretend to comprise all of international statistics itself.

Current System of Governance
1979
Body

The ISI has been constantly evolving to meet the changes in the profession and the needs of the statistical community. 

Our current system of governance was adopted in 1979, with an Elected Council and an Executive Committee made up of the President, President-Elect, and Vice-Presidents

The Presidents of the Associations are part of the Council and have a representation in ISI governance.

The ISI Associations have their own governance structure, conferences, journals, and other activities. The ISI and its family of Associations work closely together to serve the needs of the international statistical community.

Declaration of Professional Ethics
1985
Body

At the biennial session in 1985 in Amsterdam, a Declaration of Professional Ethics was adopted, and it was further revised in 2011 to respond to the latest challenges. 

Statutes, By-Laws and New Membership
2011
Body

The statutes and by-laws were substantially revised at the World Statistics Congress in Dublin in 2011, and a new category of regular membership was established. 

A major goal of this new membership, which is open to anyone interested in the mission of the ISI, is to attract younger members and more representation from low and middle income countries / regions

There were also changes to the governing structure (from three to four Vice-Presidents), adoption of English as the official language, and the use of electronic voting.