Francis X. Schumacher

Francis X. Schumacher
F.X. Schumacher
Born	March 14, 1892 Dayton, Ohio
Died	June 3, 1967 (1967-06-04) (aged 75) Durham, North Carolina
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Known for	Introduction of statistical sampling and experimental design to American forestry. Growth & yield modeling[1]
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross Barrington Moore Memorial Award in Biological Science, Society of American Foresters
Scientific career
Fields	Forestry
Institutions	University of California, United States Forest Service, Duke University

F.X. Schumacher (March 14, 1892 – June 3, 1967) was a prominent forest biometrician. He served on the forestry faculty at The University of California before being called to work as chief of the section forest measurements, U.S. Forest Service.[2] His interest in statistics led him to an affiliation with R.A. Fisher, and Schumacher led early advances to adopt statistical methods in forest inventories and silvicultural research.[3] He joined the faculty of the Duke Graduate School of Forestry as one of its original seven faculty members.[4] He co-authored textbooks on forest mensuration and sampling with other notable forest biometricians Donald Bruce[5] and Roy A. Chapman.[6] He was the first to apply the equation form Y = e^a+b/X, widely known as the Schumacher equation, to timber growth and yield modeling.[7]

In 1957 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.[8] Schumacher was named a Fellow, Society of American Foresters in 1959[9] and was awarded an honorary doctorate from North Carolina State University the same year.[10]

References

1. Schumacher, F.X. 1939. A new growth curve and its application to timber-yield studies. Journal of Forestry 37:819-820.
2. Science Vol. 72, No. 1865. (September 26, 1930), p. 315.
3. "Stage. A. 2001. Some giants of forest mensuration. John Bell & Associates Inventory & Cruising Newsletter". Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
4. Science Vol. 87, No. 2253. (March 4, 1938), p. 208.
5. Bruce, D., and F.X. Schumacher. 1942. Forest Mensuration. McGraw-Hill. New York. 425p.
6. Schumacher, F.X. and R.A. Chapman. 1942. Sampling methods in forestry and range management. The Seeman printery. Durham, NC. 213p.
7. Thornley, J.H.M., and J. France. 2007. Mathematical models in agriculture : quantitative methods for the plant, animal and ecological sciences CABI Pub. Wallingford. 906p.
8. View/Search Fellows of the ASA Archived 2016-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 2016-07-23.
9. Science Vol. 130, No. 3389. (December 11, 1959), p. 1647.
10. NC State University, honorary degrees conferred. 1917-present. Retrieved 29 June 2016.