Wilhelm Winkler

Wilhelm Winkler (29 June 1884 – 3 September 1984) was a Czech-Austrian statistician and politician. He had successful careers as both an academic statistician (despite receiving no formal academic training in the field), and a program director in the Austrian government.

Biography

Early life Wilhelm was the fifth of the eight children of Anne and music teacher Julius Winkler, a family situation that required him to work starting at age 13. He attended law school at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, practiced law briefly in 1908, did a stint in the Austrian army, then settled into a position at the Statistical Bureau of Bohemia

War years Winkler re-enlisted in the Austrian army at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and was decorated twice for bravery before being wounded in November 1915. He did not retire until age 71, and continued to publish and vigorously promote statistics thereafter. He died just after his 100th birthday, having published 20 textbooks and over 200 papers, founded two statistical societies, edited two statistical journals, been awarded two honorary degrees, and reshaped the development of German-speaking statistics through his progressive education initiatives.