David Rothman (statistician)

David Rothman
Born	August 9, 1935(1935-08-09) Bronx, New York, United States
Died	c. June 12, 2004(2004-06-12) (aged 68) Hawthorne, California, United States
Occupation	Statistician, Public Policy
Spouse	Yolanda Rothman (1938-2011) (m.1959-1966) (divorced) 2 children

David Rothman (August 9, 1935 – c. June 12, 2004) was an American statistician, public policy advisor, and Bowl Championship Series computer rankings author.

Early Life and Childhood

David Rothman was one of three children born and raised in Bronx, New York to Lena (1912–2004) and Morris Rothman (1908–1993). Morris Rothman was a furrier. In his youth he scored well in a national math contest. Piano composition was his hobby.

Education

Rothman graduated from Bronx Science (later called Bronx High School of Science) in 1951. He continued on to University of Wisconsin–Madison, completing a B. S. degree in mathematics in 1955 followed by a master's degree. He then went on to Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration (later renamed John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University), completing a M. S. degree in public administration in 1959.

Career

He spent many years working as a private-sector aerospace statistician for companies like: Lockheed Corporation, Acbabian Associates, and Rocketdyne. Thru Rocketdyne, he was one of the enormous scientific technical talent pool utilized by NASA to achieve the Apollo program Moon landing. Thru Acbabian Associates, he was one of the scientific technical talent pool utilized by NASA to analyze the mechanical structure used in the space shuttle reloading facility called the Vehicle Assembly Building.

As part of his interests in United States public policy (such as voting in relation to Arrow's impossibility theorem), he had advocated the creation of a new United States Constitution. Under this new Constitution there would be the addition of a 7-member, 4th-branch of government. This new branch's function would have been to police, and if warranted, remove members from the other branches for cause. He authored a book about his ideas.

Although he only appeared on television once and presented once as a keynote speaker of a statistical conference in New York City, he also was the founder of a public policy think tank, FACT (Foundation for the Analysis of Competitions and Tournaments),^[1] thru which he will be best remembered as one of the Bowl Championship Series computer rankings authors (1999–2002).^[2][3]

Death

He was found dead in his Hawthorne, California residence on June 16, 2004. The coroner later ruled that the cause of death was atherosclerotic heart disease.

References

1. ^ "FACT College Football Standings"
2. ^ "What is in a Computer Ranking?"
3. ^ "COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Margin of Victory Falls in Bowl Rating"

Persondata
Name	Rothman, David
Alternative names
Short description	American statistician
Date of birth	1935-08-09
Place of birth	Bronx, New York, United States
Date of death	2004-06-16
Place of death	Hawthorne, California