On September 10th 2020 the revolutionary mathematician and statistician Calyampudi Radhakrishna (C.R.) Rao celebrated his hundredth birthday. A President’s National Medal of Science Laureate, he is recognized worldwide as a pioneer of modern statistical theory and as one of the world’s top five statisticians, with multifaceted distinctions as a mathematician, researcher, scientist, and an educator.
Widely regarded as a living legend whose work has influenced beyond statistics and has had far-reaching implications in various disciplines, he has been awarded both the Padma Bhushan (1968) and the Padma Vibhushan (2001), amongst many others. Recognizing his contributions, the Government of India has also instituted a biennial national award in Statistics known as the ‘The Professor C.R. Rao’ Award.
In his honour, Pennsylvania State University has established a C.R. and Bhargavi Rao Prize in Statistics. Additionally, CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science and a ‘Prof. C.R. Rao Road’ in Hyderabad are named after him.