Kruskal, William, 1919-

William Henry Kruskal was born on October 10, 1919 in New York City to Joseph Bernard and Lillian Rose (Vorhaus) Kruskal. He received an S.B. (1940) and an M.S. (1941) from Harvard University and a Ph.D from Columbia University (1955).

From 1941 to 1944 Kruskal served as a mathematician for the U.S. Naval Proving Ground. This was followed by a term as vice president of Kruskal and Kruskal, Incorporated in New York from 1946 to 1948. In 1950 Kruskal joined the faculty of the University of Chicago. He became a professor of statistics there in 1962, and was honored as the Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Service Professor in 1973. In addition to these duties, Kruskal was the chair of the department of statistics from 1966 to 1973 as well as the Dean of the Division of Social Sciences for a total of nine years. Kruskal also spent some time teaching at other universities including the University of California, Berkeley (1955-1956) and Harvard University (summer 1959).

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