David Spiegelhalter
"Even in an era of open data, data science and data journalism, we still need basic statistical principles in order not to be misled by apparent patterns in the numbers."
David Spiegelhalter is an Emeritus professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge and formerly the Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication. A world-renowned statistician and best-selling author, he has done pioneering work on improving the way statistical evidence is used by policy-makers, legal personnel and healthcare professionals, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2014, he was knighted for his services to the field of medical statistics.
He is a prominent media personality alongside his academic work, having presented the BBC4 documentaries “Tails you Win: the Science of Chance” and the award-winning “Climate Change by Numbers. His latest book The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorence, Risk and Luck published in eleven languages, questions the role luck and chance play in our lives.
"David Spiegelhalter is probably the greatest living statistical communicator; more than that, he's one of the great communicators in any field" — Tim Harford.