Timeline
Professional Gains Tempered By Personal Loss (1927 - 1939) |
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In roughly a 10-year span, W. Edwards Deming experiences some of the highest and lowest points in his life. Professionally, he makes tremendous strides in combining groundbreaking theories in statistical analysis with real-world applications. In his personal life he is rocked by the passing of his young wife and father, only to find the strength and courage to remarry and rebuild. |
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1927 |
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1930 | Becomes a lecturer at the USDA Graduate School. Over several years he brings as lecturers many of the great statistical thinkers of the day, and writes dozens of papers, at first limited to theoretical physics but later extending to statistical methods. |
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November 1930 | Wife Agnes passes away. |
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1930 | Father William Albert Deming passes away. |
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1931 | Publishes first in series of articles on the properties of "Least Squares." |
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April 1932 |
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December 1934 | Daughter Diana is born. |
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1935
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Begins teaching mathematics and statistics at the USDA Graduate School. Spends a year at University College in London on leave from the USDA. He studies under the great statisticians Ronald Fisher, Egon Pearson, and Jerzy Neyman. Deming contributes to the growth and understanding of the use of statistics, especially in the area of sampling. His work influences poll takers, market researchers, and the U.S. Census Bureau. |
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1937 | Publishes brochure with Raymond T. Birge, "On the Statistical Theory of Errors." |
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1937 | Sponsors Walter Shewhart of Bell Telephone Labs in a four-part series of lectures on statistical quality control at the USDA Graduate School in Washington, DC. He also sponsors lectures by J. Neyman, R. A. Fisher, John Wishart, and William G. Cochran. |
Transforming Japanese Industry With Honor And Respect (1950 - 1960) |
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If there is a shining period in W. Edwards Deming's career it would be the years he spent working with the leaders of Japanese industry during the 1950s. The meteoric rise of Japan as an industrial and economic powerhouse after WWII, and the honors bestowed upon him by Japanese society are testament to the power of his transformative theories and teachings. |
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1950 | Receives invitation to teach the application of statistics to quality improvement from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). Dr. Eizaburo Nishibori, a member of JUSE, and Professor Sigeiti Moriguti of Tokyo University invite Deming to lecture on statistical methods for business in a session sponsored by the Keidanren, the most prestigious society of Japanese executives, under the leadership of its chairman, Ichiro Ishikawa (also president of JUSE). |
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1950 |
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1950 | Publishes book, Some Theory of Sampling |
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1950, 1952 | Elementary Principles of the Statistical Control of Quality is published. |
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1951 | Deming returns to Japan as a consultant and teacher to aid JUSE's efforts. He returns again in 1952, 1955 and 1956. |
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1951 |
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1952, 1953 | Is an "exchange scholar" to Germany. |
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1947 - 1952 | Member of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Statistical Sampling. |
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1953 | Consultant, Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. |
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1953 | Lecturer, Universität Kiel; Institut für Sozialforschung Universität Frankfurt; Technische Akademie, Wuppertal-Elberfeld; Technische Hochschule, Nürnberg; Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien |
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1954, 1955 | Consultant to the Census of Mexico, the Bank of Mexico, and the Ministry of Economy. |
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1955 | Awarded the Shewhart Medal by the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC). |
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1959 - 1962 | Consultant to the Central Statistical Office of Turkey. |
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1960 | Publishes book, Sample Design in Business Research. |
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1960 |
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Continuing To Make Contributions Around The World (1961 - 1979) |
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This period in W. Edwards Deming's life can be said to be "international in scope" and culminates in his retirement from a long-standing professorship at New York University. Indeed, his theories and teachings during this time found a wider acceptance within a wider audience, through a combination of prestigious lectures and important consulting work around the world. |
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1964 | Lecturer, London School of Economics. |
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1964 | Lecturer, Institut de Statistiques de l'Université de Paris. |
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1965 |
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1967 | Deming publishes "What Happened in Japan?" |
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1970 - 1971 | Consultant to the China Productivity Center, Taiwan. |
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1971 | Lecturer in Santiago, Córdoba (Argentina), and Buenos Aires, under the auspices of the Inter-American Statistical Institute. |
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1972 | Elected as most distinguished graduate from the University of Wyoming. |
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1975 |
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America Discovers Deming, And His Legacy Continues To Grow (1980 - 1993) |
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This is a remarkable period in the life of W. Edwards Deming, including a new found level of interest by Americans in his theories and teachings. It's also a period of nonstop lecturing to tens of thousands of people, consulting for leading corporations, and prolific writing. All for a man who when asked why he continued to work so hard so late in life, characteristically answered, "So much to do, and so little time." |
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1980 |
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1980 | Begins teaching his Four-Day seminars and travels worldwide. |
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1982 | Publishes book, Quality, Productivity and Competitive Position. |
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1982 |
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1983 | Recipient of the Taylor Key Award, American Management Association. |
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1983 | Elected to the National Academy of Engineering. |
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1983 | Recipient of the Samuel S. Wilks Award from the American Statistical Association. |
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1984 | Daughter Dorothy dies. |
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1985 - 1993 | Named Distinguished Professor, Columbia University. |
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1986 | Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control republished by Dover Press with a foreword by Deming. |
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1986 | Inducted into the Science and Technology Hall of Fame, Dayton, Ohio. |
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June 1986 | Wife Lola dies from heart failure. |
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June 1986 | Recipient of the Distinguished Career in Science award from the National Academy of Sciences. |
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1987 |
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1987 | Awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Reagan. |
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1987 | U.S. establishes its version of the Deming Prize, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. |
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1991 | Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. |
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1992 |
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1993 |
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1993 | Founds The W. Edwards Deming Institute® |
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December 1993 | Dies on December 20 in Washington, DC. |