The Karl Pearson Prize was formerly named after one of the Founders of statistical science, whose many contributions include the chi-square test for goodness of fit, the principal component method of dimension reduction, and the method of moments for statistical estimation.

On the other hand, Pearson was an active eugenics proponent. While Pearson’s eugenic ideas are not surprising for his time, we reject them today, as we reject all discriminatory ideas. In coherence with ISI principles, we find it inappropriate to keep using Karl Pearson’s name in association with prizes, lectures and other awards. Therefore it was decided to rename the Prize and honor the many Founders of Statistics with this Prize.