C. R. Rao

Career

Rao first worked at the Indian Statistical Institute and the Anthropological Museum in Cambridge. Later he held several important positions, as the Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor and National Professor in India, University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Eberly Professor and Chair of Statistics and Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis at Pennsylvania State University.

As Head and later Director of the Research and Training School at the Indian Statistical Institute, India for a period of over 40 years, Rao developed research and training programs and produced several leaders in the field of Mathematics. On the basis of Rao's recommendation, the Asian Statistical Institute (ASI), now known as the Statistical Institute for Asia and Pacific, was established in Tokyo to provide training to statisticians working in government and industrial organisations.

Among his best-known discoveries are the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Rao Distance, Rao's Score test, Rao's Quadratic Entropy, Cramér–Rao bound and the Rao–Blackwell theorem these are related to the quality of estimators. Majority of the publications were during his time period in Indian Statistical Institute in 60 years of his career. Other areas he worked in include multivariate analysis, estimation theory, and differential geometry. His other contributions include the Fisher–Rao theorem, Rao distance, and orthogonal arrays. He was the author of 15 books and authored over 400 journal publications.

Rao received 38 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 19 countries around the world and numerous awards and medals for his contributions to statistics and science. He was a member of eight National Academies in India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy. Rao was awarded Santhi Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1963 and followed by Padma Bhushan in 1968. Rao was awarded the United States National Medal of Science, that nation's highest award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research, in June 2002. He was given the India Science Award in 2010, the highest honour conferred by the government of India in a scientific domain. He was most recently honoured with his 38th honorary doctorate by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, on 26 July 2014 for "his contributions to the foundations of modern statistics through the introduction of concepts such as Cramér–Rao inequality, Rao–Blackwellization, Rao distance, Rao measure, and for introducing the idea of orthogonal arrays for the industry to design high-quality products."

Rao was the President of the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the International Biometric Society. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of India's National Institution for Quality and Reliability (Chennai Branch) for his contribution to industrial statistics and the promotion of quality control programs in industries.

The Journal of Quantitative Economics published a special issue in Rao's honour in 1991: "Dr. Rao is a very distinguished scientist and a highly eminent statistician of our time. His contributions to statistical theory and applications are well known, and many of his results, which bear his name, are included in the curriculum of courses in statistics at bachelor's and master's level all over the world. He was an inspiring teacher and has guided the research work of numerous students in all areas of statistics. His early work had greatly influenced the course of statistical research during the last four decades. One of the purposes of this special issue is to recognise Dr. Rao's own contributions to econometrics and acknowledge his major role in the development of econometric research in India."

Areas of research contributions

• Estimation theory
• Statistical inference and linear models
• Multivariate analysis
• Combinatorial design
• Orthogonal arrays
• Biometry
• Statistical genetics
• Generalized matrix inverses
• Functional equations

Death

Rao died in Buffalo, New York on 22 August 2023, aged 102.

Awards and medals

• Guy Medal in Gold (2011) of the Royal Statistical Society
• India Science Award 2010 (the highest award in a scientific field presented by government of India)
• International Mahalanobis Prize (2003) of the International Statistical Institute
• Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal (2003) of the Indian National Science Academy
• Sardar Patel Lifetime Achievement International Award (Sardar Ratna) (2014) by Sardar Patel International Foundation, India
• President George W. Bush, on 12 June 2002, honoured him with the National Medal of Science, the highest award in US in the scientific field, as a "prophet of new age" with the citation, "for his pioneering contributions to the foundations of statistical theory and multivariate statistical methodology and their applications, enriching the physical, biological, mathematical, economic and engineering sciences."
• Padma Vibhushan (2001) by the Government of India
• Mahalanobis Centenary Gold Medal (1993?) of the Indian Science Congress
• Wilks Memorial Award (1989) of the American Statistical Association
• Padma Bhushan (1968)
• Megnadh Saha Medal (1969) of the Indian National Science Academy
• Guy Medal in Silver (1965) of the Royal Statistical Society
• S. S. Bhatnagar Award (1963) of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
• JC Bose Gold Medal of the Bose Institute
• Gold Medal of the University of Calcutta
• He was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Calcutta in 2003. Also honorary doctorates from a number of universities and institutes around the world.
• 2023 International Prize in Statistics

In his honour

• The Pennsylvania State University has established C. R. and Bhargavi Rao Prize in Statistics
• CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
• National Award in Statistics established by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India.
• The road from IIIT Hyderabad passing along Central University of Hyderabad crossroads to Alind Factory, Lingampally is named as "Prof. C.R. Rao Road".