Lucien Le Cam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lucien Le Cam
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Lucien Le Cam in 1987
Photo courtesy George M. Bergman |
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| Born | November 18, 1924 |
| Died | April 25, 2000 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | University of Paris University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | Le Cam's theorem |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | Jerzy Neyman |
| Doctoral students |
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Lucien Marie Le Cam (November 18, 1924 – April 25, 2000) was a brilliant mathematician and statistician from France. He made big contributions to the field of statistics, especially in how we understand and use data over time.
Contents
Who Was Lucien Le Cam?
Early Life in France
Lucien Le Cam was born on November 18, 1924, in a small town called Croze in France. His parents were farmers, and they didn't have much money. When Lucien was 13, his father passed away.
He went to a Catholic school and finished in 1942. After that, he started studying at a seminary, which is a school for religious training. But he quickly left because he wanted to study chemistry, and they wouldn't let him.
Instead, he went to a different school called a lycée. This school didn't teach chemistry either, but it was strong in mathematics. During World War II, in May 1944, he joined an underground group. He had to stay hidden for a while to be safe.
Studying in Paris
In November 1944, Lucien returned to his school. Soon after, he moved to Paris and began studying at the University of Paris. He worked very hard and earned his first university degree in 1945.
After graduating, Le Cam worked for a company that provided hydroelectric power for five years. Even while working, he kept up his interest in statistics. He attended a weekly seminar at the University of Paris to learn more.
Moving to California
In 1950, Lucien Le Cam got an amazing invitation. He was asked to be an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States. He planned to stay for just one year, taking a break from his job in France.
But things changed quickly! By the spring of 1951, he met his future wife, Louise Romig. She was the daughter of another famous statistician. He decided to stay in the U.S. and joined the Ph.D. program at Berkeley.
He earned his Ph.D. in 1952, which is the highest university degree. In 1953, he became an Assistant Professor at Berkeley. He continued to work there for the rest of his career, even after he officially retired in 1991. He passed away in 2000.
What Were Le Cam's Main Ideas?
Understanding Data Over Time
Lucien Le Cam was a very important person in statistics from the 1950s to the 1990s. He helped create new ways to understand how data behaves when you have a lot of it, especially over long periods. This is called asymptotic theory.
He came up with important ideas like local asymptotic normality and contiguity. These are complex mathematical concepts that help statisticians compare different ways of analyzing data.
Comparing Statistical Models
Le Cam also developed a special way to compare how good different statistical models are. A statistical model is like a mathematical tool used to understand data. He introduced something called deficiency. This helps us see how much better one model is than another.
The Le Cam distance is also named after him. It's a way to measure how "close" two different statistical experiments are to each other. His big book from 1986, Asymptotic Methods in Statistical Decision Theory, explains many of his important ideas.
Selected publications
