A statistical biography of George Udny Yule: a loafer of the world

Udny Yule's seminal influence on time series analysis has long been recognised but much less recognised is that Yule was not only a wonderful expositor but that he had also published equally important research in an extraordinarily wide range of fields, from developing the theory of correlation and regression to providing mathematical models of evolutionary behavior, and from analysing data on pauperism to using statistical methods to resolve cases of disputed authorship of medieval manuscripts.

Yet little has been written about Yule and his work, apart from a few scattered articles, since his death in 1951 and the two obituaries that appeared in the following year.

This book is an opportune moment to redress the balance and to embark on a major study of Yule's statistical research and subsequent legacy.