Esther Seiden facts for kids

Esther Seiden (born March 9, 1908 – died June 3, 2014) was a brilliant mathematician and statistician. She was famous for her work on how to design experiments and for her ideas in combinatorial design theory. She also helped create new ideas in finite geometry. Her research was very important in her field.

Early Life and Learning

Esther Seiden was born in 1908 in West Galicia, which was part of Poland. She grew up in a Jewish family that spoke Polish. She went to a special high school in Krakow that focused on Zionism, a movement supporting a Jewish homeland.

Even though her father wanted her to do something else, Esther chose to study mathematics. She started at the University of Krakow. After a year, she moved to Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, where her uncle was a math teacher. There, she studied pure mathematics, physics, and mathematical logic.

Esther planned to become a teacher after getting her master's degree. But her professors encouraged her to study more. Because of some violence happening in Vilnius, she moved to the University of Warsaw. There, she studied logic with famous thinkers like Alfred Tarski.

Helping in Palestine

After finishing her studies, Esther worked as a schoolteacher at a Jewish school from 1932 to 1934. She felt like she was not treated equally in Europe and wanted to move to Mandatory Palestine, which is now Israel. With help from her professors, she got into the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She moved there in 1935.

In Palestine, she kept teaching and studied mathematics at the Hebrew University. However, her interest in math changed as she became involved in helping her community. She joined the Haganah, a defense organization, and later worked for the Red Cross during World War II. She helped people during the war.

Becoming a Statistician

After the war ended, Esther started working for the Palestine Census of Industry. This led her to study statistics with Aryeh Dvoretzky.

In 1947, she went to the University of California, Berkeley in the United States to study statistics further. She worked as an assistant to Jerzy Neyman, a well-known statistician. She started her important work in experimental design, which is about planning experiments to get the best results. She earned her Ph.D. in 1949. Her main research was about how to organize complex experiments.

Esther Seiden taught at several universities, including the University at Buffalo, University of Chicago, American University, and Northwestern University. In 1960, she joined Michigan State University. She retired from Michigan State in 1978. But she didn't stop working! She went back to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and stayed active there for many more years.

Achievements and Recognition

Esther Seiden was highly respected in her field. In 1976, she was chosen as a member of the International Statistical Institute. She was also a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. These honors show how important her contributions were to the world of mathematics and statistics.