Gosset Letters

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0103 MS ADD 274
Held at	: University College London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/special-coll ›
Full title	: Gosset Letters
Date(s)	: 1915-1936
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Gosset | William Sealy | 1876-1937 | statistician and industrial research scientist
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

William Sealy Gosset, statistician and industrial research scientist, was born at Canterbury in June 1876, the eldest son of Colonel Frederic Gosset R.E. and Agnes Sealy Gosset. He studied at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a first class in mathematical moderations in 1897 and in natural science (chemistry) in 1899. From 1899 until his death he worked for Arthur Guinness, Son and Company in Dublin, being sent to London in 1935 to take charge of the new Guinness brewery there. Gosset's task was to use the mass of statistical data about brewing methods, barley and hops in order to improve his company's product. In 1905 he contacted Karl Pearson and studied during the session of 1906-7 in his laboratory at University College London. Between 1907 and 1937 Gosset published twenty-two statistical papers and did much work concerned not only with chemistry and biology but also with agriculture. In 1906 he married Marjory Surtees, youngest daughter of James Surtees Phillpotts. They had one son and two daughters. Gosset died at Beaconsfield in October 1937.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

The letters are mostly between Gosset (known as 'Student') and Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962) who became Professor of Eugenics at University College London. Letters from other scientists are interleaved where they bear on the correspondence.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The arrangement, in chronological order, and numbering by Sir R A Fisher is preserved.

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

Finding aids:

A more detailed list is available. Please contact Special Collections for further information.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by Sir R A Fisher via Laurence McMullen (Gosset's successor in the Guinness Brewery) and E S Pearson of the Department of Statistical Science, University College London, in 1980.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
1999