David, F. N. (Florence Nightingale), 1909-1993

F. N. (Florence Nightingale) David was born on August 23, 1909 in Ivington, England. She graduated from Bedford College for Women in 1931 with a degree in Mathematics. Her intention was to become an actuary in the insurance business, but she found she could not be hired because she was a woman. Frustrated, she sought out Karl Pearson at University College in London and began graduate studies and work as his research assistant. While working on her PhD she became an assistant lecturer in the Statistics Department at University College and worked closely with Jerzy Neyman and Egon Pearson. Together they launched a new statistical journal called Statistical Research Memoirs . Encouraged by Neyman after Karl Pearson died, she completed her PhD in 1938.

During WW II, David took advantage of new opportunities that opened up for women by working as an experimental officer for the Ordinance Board at the Ministry of Supply and a senior statistician for the Research and Experiments Department of the Ministry of Home Security. She also served on the Land Mines Committee of the Scientific Advisory Council and as a scientific advisor for the Military Experimental Establishment. After the war, she continued to work on these projects for the British government as well as conducting similar research in the United States and Canada.

She continued as a lecturer and reader in the Statistics Department of University College until she was promoted to professor in 1962. From 1958 to 1967 she was a visiting professor and research statistician in the Department of Statistics and Applied Climatology and Forestry Division at the University of California, Berkeley. She later replaced Jerzy Neyman as chair of that department. In 1967, she came permanently to the United States, joining the Department of Biostatistics at UC Riverside and becoming the chair of the Department of Statistics in 1970. After her retirement in 1977, she returned to Berkeley as professor emeritus and research associate in biostatistics.

David became a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1954. She authored nine books between 1938 and 1968 and wrote or co-wrote more than one hundred papers in scientific journals. She was the first recipient of the Elizabeth L. Scott award in 1992 for her "efforts in opening the door to women in statistics," which, considering her early setbacks in the London insurance industry, must have been very gratifying. In 2001, the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies and the Caucus for Women in Statistics established the F. N. David Award to reward women statisticians for acting as role models to other women through outstanding research and service.

F. N. David died on July 23, 1993, in Kensington, Contra Costa County, California.