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George E.P. Box

(18 Oct 1919 - 28 Mar 2013)

English-American engineer and statistician who was recognized internationally for his work on optimizing experimental design with statistics. He encouraged both his students and his colleagues with lively discussions about how statistics could help solve research problems.

Short biography of George E.P. Box >>

George Box
Essence of the Scientific Method

English-American engineer and statistician, the late George E.P. Box, gives some remarks on the essence of the scientific method, including the invention of champagne. Progress is made when a critical event is noticed by a perceptive observer. The scientific method is a way of increasing scientific learning by informed observation and directed observation.

An Accidental Statistician Box 1118400887 (source)

George E.P. Box quote: History shows that the human animal has always learned but progress used to be very slow. This

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George E.P. Box quote: Samuel Pierpoint Langley, at that time regarded as one of the most distinguished scientists in

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George E.P. Box quote: Scientific method is concerned with efficient ways of generating knowledge.

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See also:

Science Quotes by George E.P. Box.
18 Oct - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Box's birth.
An Accidental Statistician: The Life and Memories of George E. P. Box, by George E.P. Box. - book suggestion.

Nature bears long with those who wrong her. She is patient under abuse. But when abuse has gone too far, when the time of reckoning finally comes, she is equally slow to be appeased and to turn away her wrath. (1882) -- Nathaniel Egleston, who was writing then about deforestation, but speaks equally well about the danger of climate change today.

Carl Sagan: In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) ...(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)