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566 Inspiration, aspiration, ambition46.2 Examples of inspiration, aspiration, and ambitionTo see how inspiration, aspiration, and ambition work, I will use examplesin the statistical world for illustration. Jerzy Neyman is an embodiment ofall three. Invention of the Neyman–Pearson theory and confidence intervals isclearly inspirational. Neyman’s success in defending the theory from criticismby contemporaries like Sir Ronald A. Fisher was clearly an act of aspiration.His establishment of the Berkeley Statistics Department as a leading institutionof learning in statistics required ambition in addition to aspiration.The personality of the individual often determines at what level(s) he/sheoperates. Charles Stein is a notable example of inspiration as evidenced by hispioneering work in Stein estimation, Stein–Chen theory, etc. But he did notpossess the necessary attribute to push for his theory. It is the sheer originalityand potential impact of his theoretical work that helped his contributionsmake their way to wide acceptance and much acclaim.Another example of inspiration, which is more technical in nature, is theCooley–Tukey algorithm for the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT); see Cooleyand Tukey (1965). The FFT has seen many applications in engineering, science,and mathematics. Less known to the statistical world is that the coretechnical idea in Tukey’s development of the algorithm came from a totallyunrelated field. It employed Yates’ algorithm (Yates, 1937) for computing factorialeffects in two-level factorial designs.In Yates’ time, computing was very slow and therefore he saw the needto find a fast algorithm (in fact, optimal for the given problem) to ease theburden on mechanical calculators. About thirty years later, Tukey still feltthe need to develop a fast algorithm in order to compute the discrete Fouriertransform over many frequency values. Even though the stated problems aretotally different, their needs for faster algorithm (relative to the technology intheir respective times) were similar. By some coincidence, Yates’ early worklent a good hand to the later development of the FFT.As students of the history of science, we can learn from this example. Ifwork has structural elegance and depth, it may find good and unexpectedapplications years later. One cannot and should not expect an instant gratificationfrom the work. Alas, this may come too late for the ambitious.Examples of ambition without inspiration abound in the history of science.Even some of the masters in statistics could not stay above it. Here are twoexamples. In testing statistical independence in r × c contingency table, KarlPearson used rc − 1 as the degrees of freedom. Fisher showed in 1922 that,when the marginal proportions are estimated, the correct degrees of freedomshould be (r − 1)(c − 1). Pearson did not react kindly. He said in the sameyear “Such a view is entirely erroneous. [···] I trust my critic will pardon mefor comparing him with Don Quixote tilting at the windmill” (Pearson, 1922,p. 191). Fisher’s retort came much later. In a 1950 volume of his collected