To: Neocon who wrote (88 ) 10/16/1999 1:47:00 AM From: greenspirit Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 3246
Hi Neo, it's about time you started your own thread. Glad to see you putting that SI membership to good use. :-) My nomination....drum roll please..... He was born in 1900 and died in 1993. His ideas have been accepted the world over and profoundly effected the way we live, work and play. A true visionary, who challenged the world of business to re-examine the assumption under which they had been operating for nearly 100 years. He said it would take 100 years for the transformation to be complete. This story begins in Sioux City in October 1900. The eldest son of three children. Demonstrating an amazing aptitude for mathematics he attended the University of Wyoming, Colorado and finally Yale where he received his Doctorate in mathematics and physics. In 1925 he took a summer job in Chicago at the Hawthorne plant. It is here, that he met his great friend and brilliant colleague Dr. Walter Shewhart. They worked together to improve agricultural yield methodologies. This knowledge set the stage which would transform the world of business and commerce the world over. In 1939 he joined the Census bureau as head mathematician and statistician. While there he defined many of the concepts regarding statistical control. In 1947 he first visited Japan. In 1950 he taught an 8 day course in statistical control where he told the Japanese that if they followed his teachings, within 5 years they would capture markets the world over. He revisited and taught many times thereafter. And in 1960 was awarded the "Second Order of Medal of the Sacred Treasure" by Emperor Hirohito. From here, the "Quality revolution" was born. It wasn't until 1980 when NBC aired a story entitled "If Japan can, why can't we? That America first heard of this aging hero to the Japanese people. A humble man who worked selfishly and tirelessly for others until his death. His name, of course, is Doctor W. Edwards Deming. A true lion of the 20th century. Michael