Gosset , William Sealy , 1876-1937 , statistician and industrial research scientist

William Sealy Gosset, statistician and industrial research scientist, was born at Canterbury in June 1876, the eldest son of Colonel Frederic Gosset R.E. and Agnes Sealy Gosset. He studied at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a first class in mathematical moderations in 1897 and in natural science (chemistry) in 1899. From 1899 until his death he worked for Arthur Guinness, Son and Company in Dublin, being sent to London in 1935 to take charge of the new Guinness brewery there. Gosset's task was to use the mass of statistical data about brewing methods, barley and hops in order to improve his company's product. In 1905 he contacted Karl Pearson and studied during the session of 1906-7 in his laboratory at University College London. Between 1907 and 1937 Gosset published twenty-two statistical papers and did much work concerned not only with chemistry and biology but also with agriculture. In 1906 he married Marjory Surtees, youngest daughter of James Surtees Phillpotts. They had one son and two daughters. Gosset died at Beaconsfield in October 1937.