Re: Statistics

[Dang Hung Thang <thang@mathematik.uni-Bremen.de>]

   Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 Tuan v Nguyen wrote
   Ngoa`i ra cho to^i 
   khoe mo^.t chu't: to^i cu~ng ddang soa.n mo^.t cuo^'n 
   problem-solution ve^` biostatistics. Ba'c na`o thi'ch di.ch 
   thi` mi`nh la`m cu`ng mo^.t lu'c cho tie^.n. 

Hi ba'c Tua^'n, ba'c Huy and friends
Du+o+'i dda^y la` tri'ch ddoa.n interview with Prof. H.Robbins, one of
the world's leading mathematicians. He is best known for his book"
What is mathematics ? which has been translated into several languages
including Vietnamese.Hope you enjoy. 
MP: In what directions is the field of statistics evolving?
Robbins: Let"s take just the field, called biostatistics that deal
with the application of statistics methods to human health and
disease. The demand for trained biostatisticians is enormous, but
there is absolutely no suplly. If I were given ten million dollars to
spend for advancing science, I could spend it trying to produce one or
two good biostatisticians. Statistical methods that are currently
being used were mostly developed in England for analyzing such thing
as agricultural experiments and industrial processes. Many of these
techniques  are being blindly applied to situations for which they are
not adapted. The methodology for handling important problems in
biostatistics  does not exist. It is just begining now, its Newton or
Einstein has yet to appear.
MP: How and where can one become trained as biostatistician?
Robbins: A mathematically capable student who wants to become directly
involved with problems of human welfare, should be doing
biostatistics. Unfortunately, there are very little encouragement to
do this, and there are very few places now to learn biostatistics. A
mathematics department would never thing of advising anyone to study
it. I would like to see a distinguished mathematics department in this
country( U.S.)tell its student:" You are very capable and you could
have a career in algebraic geometry, or whatever, but we would like 
to encourage you to go into biostatistics.
COMMENT: Va^'n dde^` nghie^n cu+'u a?nh hu+o+?ng cu?a cha^'t ddo^.c da
cam ddo^'i vo+'i mo^i tru+o+`ng, ecology( sinh tha'i) va` su+'c khoe?
cu?a da^n VN kho^ng the^? kho^ng co' su+. tham gia cu?a ca'c
Vietnamese biostatisticians . How many are there such people in VN ?
Cheers
Thang