Leo Breiman
arXiv:1101.0929 · doi:10.1214/10-AOAS387
Abstract
Statistics is a uniquely difficult field to convey to the uninitiated. It sits astride the abstract and the concrete, the theoretical and the applied. It has a mathematical flavor and yet it is not simply a branch of mathematics. Its core problems blend into those of the disciplines that probe into the nature of intelligence and thought, in particular philosophy, psychology and artificial intelligence. Debates over foundational issues have waxed and waned, but the field has not yet arrived at a single foundational perspective.
Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS387 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)