Robert Wedderburn (statistician)

Robert William Maclagan Wedderburn (1947–1975) was a Scottish statistician who worked at the Rothamsted Experimental Station. He was co-developer, with John Nelder, of the generalized linear model methodology, [cite journal|last=Nelder|first=John A| authorlink=John Nelder | coauthors=Wedderburn, Robert W|title=Generalized linear models|journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A| year=1972|volume=135 | pages=370–384|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0035-9238%281972%29135%3A3%3C370%3AGLM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X|doi=10.2307/2344614 ] and then expanded this subject to develop the idea of quasi-likelihood. [cite journal|first=RWM|last=Wedderburn|title=Quasi-likelihood functions, generalized linear models, and the Gauss—Newton method|journal=Biometrika|year=1974|volume=61|issue=3|pages=439–447| doi=10.1093/biomet/61.3.439 ]

He died aged 28 of anaphylactic shock from an insect bite while on a canal holiday. [cite journal |last= Senn|first=Stephen |year=2003 |title=A conversation with John Nelder |journal=Statistical Science |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=118–131 |doi=10.1214/ss/1056397489 |url=http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ss/1056397489]

"His colleagues remember him as someone of engaging diffidence, who would nonetheless hold his own in argument when he was sure he was right (as he usually was)." — John Nelder [
Nelder, John (1975). [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0035-9238%281975%29138%3A4%3C587%3ARWMW1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G Obituary: Robert William Maclagan Wedderburn, 1947-1975.] Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) Vol. 138, No. 4 , p. 587]

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