In December 1900 a 21-year-old recent college graduate student – Albert Einstein – submitted his first paper for publication. The paper used modeling (least-squares method, which had been well developed at that time) and data analysis in support of a couple of scientific propositions. The paper shows that Einstein was a clever, self-taught statistician handily using statistical tools and data in support of two scientific propositions, which can be summarized by Einstein in his conclusion: “To each atom corresponds a molecular attraction field that is independent of the temperature and of the way in which the atom is chemically bound to other atoms.” Inexpectant, the paper shows that Einstein was an “average” data analyst as it indicates Einstein’s tendency to make trivial arithmetic mistakes and some clumsiness in data recording. The objective of this fascinating article is to help provide a better appreciation of Einstein as an active user of statistical arguments in this and other if his important publications. (This abstract draws from Iglewicw, B., (2007) “Einstein’s First Published Paper,” The American Statistician, Vol. 61, No. 4, 339-342.)




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