Mary Gibbons NatrellaMary Gibbons Natrella (September 23, 1922 – May 18, 1988)[1][2][3][4] was an American statistician and "an expert on the application of modern statistical techniques in physical science experimentation and engineering testing".[5] She worked at the National Bureau of Standards, where she wrote their Handbook 91, Experimental Statistics (1963).[6][7] It became one of their "all-time best selling publications"[8] and has been recognized as "a monumental work" with "deep and long-lasting impact on the application of statistics to the planning and analysis of scientific experiments".[9] Education and careerMary Blanche Gibbons was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. After earlier studies at Keystone College, she completed a bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1942. She worked as a mathematician for the U.S. Army Ordnance Department from 1942 to 1945, and as a statistician for the Navy beginning in 1945.[2] In 1946, she married Joseph Victor Natrella, a mathematician for the Air Force who later worked for NASA.[2][4] In 1950, she moved from the Navy to the National Bureau of Standards,[2] where she remained until retiring in 1986.[5] ContributionsBefore writing her book, NBS Handbook 91 Experimental Statistics, Natrella helped produce defense standard MIL-STD-105 for acceptance sampling. At the National Bureau of Standards, she was responsible for teaching statistics to scientists,[5] and "had a special gift for elucidating difficult statistical concepts".[9] Recognition and legacyIn 1981, Natrella was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association;[10] her brother-in-law, Vito Natrella,[4] was also a Fellow.[10] She was also a fellow of the American Society for Test Materials.[5] She was given the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 1982.[1] She died in 1988 and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia.[11] A scholarship in her and her husband's name is awarded annually by the American Statistical Association, funded by a gift from her husband when she died.[8] References
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