1900-1993
Quality Expert

Statistician.

Deming grew up in Wyoming when the horse and buggy was still a common means of transportation. Deming began graduate school at Yale University in 1924 and received a Ph.D. in physics. Upon graduating he pursued a career with the Department of Agriculture. In 1940 Deming took charge of the census bureau's new program to use statistical methods to sample the population, but it was his experiences in the late 1940s and early 1950s that would eventually change his life, and the economic direction of two countries.

Teacher.

During World War II Deming, like many other Americans, put his skills to work in the war effort. Deming taught statistical control methods to engineers, inspectors, and other people engaged in war production. In 1947 Deming worked in Japan even as Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Supreme Command Allied Powers (SCAP) decided Japan's fate. American...