Robert (Roy) Geary

Apart from a few years in Paris, Cambridge and New York, Ireland’s greatest statistician spent the whole of his working life in Dublin, the place of his birth. After graduating from University College Dublin, and further study at the Sorbonne in Paris, he joined the Statistics Branch of the Department of Industry and Commerce in 1923. In 1949, he became Director of the newly established Central Statistics Office and, in 1960, Director of the Economic Research Institute (ERI).

He is best known for his contributions to mathematical statistics, with notable work on the sampling theory of ratios, normality testing, and the estimation of relationships where the variables are subject to errors of measurement. He also contributed to national accounting, becoming Head of the National Accounts Branch of the United Nations in New York from 1957 to 1960. His status was of great importance in establishing the early reputation of the ERI (now the influential Economic and Social Research Institute), set up to improve knowledge of the economic and social conditions of Irish society.