David Freedman

David A. Freedman (1938-2008) was a Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. A distinguished mathematical statistician, he revolutionized the teaching of statistics with his undergraduate (new edition, 2007) and graduate (new edition, 2009) textbooks that emphasize clear reasoning over mere technique and that use numerous illustrations and empirical examples that are vivid, real, and up-to-date. Freedman also published widely on the application--and misapplication--of statistics in the social sciences. This major aspect of his work is synthesized in his book "Statistical Models and Causal Inference" (2009). Freedman was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2003 received the National Academy of Science's John J. Carty Award for his "profound contributions to the theory and practice of statistics."