Meet Indian genius who had 38 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 19 countries

Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao (CR Rao) was a distinguished Indian-American mathematician and statistician whose extensive work has significantly impacted various scientific fields. He was celebrated as a professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and a research professor at the University at Buffalo. He was also awarded the US National Medal of Science in 2002.

Born into a Telugu family in Bellary, Madras Presidency (now in Karnataka) on September 10, 1920, Rao was the eighth of 10 children. He completed his schooling across multiple towns in Andhra Pradesh. Rao earned an MSc in mathematics from Andhra University and an MA in statistics from Calcutta University in 1943. He pursued a PhD under the guidance of R.A. Fisher at King’s College, Cambridge, in 1948, and later obtained a DSc from Cambridge in 1965.

Rao's career began at the Indian Statistical Institute and the Anthropological Museum in Cambridge. He has held prominent roles, including Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor, National Professor in India, University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and Eberly Professor and Chair of Statistics at Pennsylvania State University. At the Indian Statistical Institute, Rao developed critical research and training programs, nurturing many future leaders in mathematics.

Rao's groundbreaking contributions to statistics include the Cramér–Rao bound and the Rao–Blackwell theorem, which are essential to estimation theory. His research spanned multivariate analysis, differential geometry, and the development of orthogonal arrays, the Fisher–Rao theorem, and Rao distance. He has 14 books and over 400 journal publications to his name.

Rao has earned 38 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in 19 countries and has memberships in eight National Academies across India, the UK, the US, and Italy. He played a key role in founding the Asian Statistical Institute (now the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific) in Tokyo, which provides vital training for statisticians in government and industry.

In 2023, Rao was awarded the International Prize in Statistics, often called the "Nobel Prize of Statistics." The American Statistical Association hailed him as "a living legend" with a wide-ranging influence on fields such as economics, genetics, anthropology, geology, national planning, demography, biometry, and medicine. The Times of India recognized him as one of the top 10 Indian scientists of all time.

Among his many honors, Rao received the India Science Award in 2010 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for his contributions to the International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. He held esteemed positions such as President of the International Statistical Institute, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the International Biometric Society. Rao was also inducted into the Hall of Fame of India's National Institution for Quality and Reliability for his contributions to industrial statistics and quality control.

He died on August 22, 2023 at the age of 102 years in Buffalo, US.