ISER’s Peter Lynn played a part in a remarkable scientific venture which has now been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace prize.
Three statisticians from three Balkan countries that were at war with one another not so long ago have collaborated in a project which has brought together statisticians from Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia as well as leading experts from around the world. In total, 619 statisticians from 105 countries on six continents participated in the project which has resulted in the publication by Springer of the 3-volume Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Peter Lynn contributed a chapter to the encyclopedia on “Sample survey methods”.
The Government of the Republika Srbska (RS), one of three autonomous entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, has made the nomination for the Nobel prize. The nominees are Serbian Miodrag Lovric, Bosnian Jasmin Komić and Croatian Ksenija Dumičić. A statement from the Office of Government Relations praised their work:
“No one in history has managed to unite people as brothers and sisters under the auspices of pacifist and scientific ideas, as successfully as Lovric, Komić and Dumičić have done. Their many years of outstanding efforts have united scientists from countries that account for 90 percent of the world’s population."
It is hoped that the award of the prize would provide a signal that a political solution to the problems of the region can only come through joint work and concessions, rather than war and violence.
One of the main aims of the encyclopedia is to raise the standard and profile of statistics in the Balkan states. ISER researchers have previously contributed to this objective through a series of projects in Bosnia. These involved setting up a household panel survey, training government statisticians, building research infrastructure, and developing a survey sampling framework. Miodrag Lovric, who invited Peter Lynn to contribute to the project, said:
“We wanted the leading experts in each field to work with us on the encyclopedia. People in this part of the world who care about peace and social justice and the role that statistics can play in this are very grateful for the support we have received from our international collaborators.”