John Wilder Tukey was born in New Bedford Massachusetts on June 19, 1915. He was educated at home until he entered Brown University. He received his PhD in mathematics from Princeton University in 1939, working in topology. Tukey's interest in statistics began during World War II when he worked on problems in fire control. After the war, Tukey returned to Princeton as a professor in statistics. He also joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1945.
Tukey made important contributions to the foundations of statistics, the analysis of variance, time series, and inferences involving multiple parameters. He developed, with JW Cooley, the fast Fourier transform, which has become an essential tool in applied mathematics.