Page 474 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS355 Jean-Louis B.
Statistical Conferences. Prof. Stuart Arthur Rice played a fantastic role in this
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committee; he played a leading role in reactivating the ISI from 1945 onwards,
in particular in drafting new statutes and his invaluable efforts were recognized
10
by his election as ISI President in 1947 . At the same time, he chaired the UN
nuclear session held in October 1946 at Hunter College in New York which
made recommendations for the composition and terms of an UN Statistical
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Commission (UNSC). According to J. W. Nixon, three names have stood out
the history of the ISI, Adolphe Quételet with the foundation of the ISC in 1853,
Franz von Neumann-Spallart who drafted the first ISI Statutes in 1885 and
Stuart Arthur Rice
Influencing governmental statistical agencies by encouraging uniformity in
statistical definitions and data collection was certainly one of the main roles of
the ISI before the 1 Word war, but after 1945, this role was taken over by the
st
UN. The mission of the ISI became international communication among
statisticians rather than among governments, international promotion and
development of research, statistical capacity and good practice across all
statistical domains. ISI has had consultative status with the UN Economic and
Social Council since 1949 and therefore with the UN Statistical Commission.
Similar links may be identified with regional and specialized UN bodies, such
as the Conference of European Statisticians which is a subsidiary body of the
UN Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva, FAO, ILO, UNESCO and
others.
After Stuart A. Rice, many ISI leaders were not only involved with the ISI as
Presidents or other leading role, including within the ISI associations/sections,
but also chaired the UNSC or the Conference of European Statisticians, e.g.
Petter Jacoj Bjerve (Norway), Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (India), Rao
(India), Mikhail Antonovitch Korolev (USSR), Vera Nyitrai (Hungary), Edmond
Malinvaud (France), or more recently William Begeer (the Netherlands), Carlos
Jarque (Mexico), or Shigeru Kawasaki (Japan). Sir Harry Campion(UK) is
another example: after helping setting up the UNSD and was its first head, he
also chaired the UNSC in 1951 and 1952 and was ISI President from 1963 to
1967.

9 Stuart A. Rice also initiated in 1940 the Inter American Statistical Institute (IASI) which still
exists today and is the most active regional society affiliated to the ISI.
10 Stuart A. Rice was re-elected ISI President in 1949 and 1951 and elected Honorary President
in 1953
The UN Statistical Commission held its 50th session this year (2019) at the UN Headquarters
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in New York
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