Talk:John Tukey

Invention of the word "software"
It is sometimes claimed that Tukey coined the word software in the computing context in 1958. This seems to be based on a misinterpretation of Shapiro's 2000 article. The word "hardware" had been used in the computing context since at least 1947 and it is unlikely that "software" was not coined until 1958. Nurg 11:11, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Please note that there is an ambiguity between this page which says: Tukey used the term "software" in a computing context in a 1958 article

and page "Software" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software which says: The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey in 1957.

Was tonights Jeopardy final question (Jan 12. 2011) wrong then when it claimed that Tukey coined the term software??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.74.194.222 (talk) 01:01, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Bit
If Tukey first used "bit" did he use it as a contraction of "binary integer" as stated in this article or "binary digit" as is commonly though and as it is understood to mean now? citation? TomViza 02:08, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

This is what Oxford English Dictionary says: "1948 C. E. SHANNON in Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. July 380 The choice of a logarithmic base corresponds to the choice of a unit for measuring information. If the base 2 is used the resulting units may be called binary digits, or more briefly bits, a word suggested by J. W. Tukey." 169.229.157.58 19:17, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Known For
All I did was add that Tukey was known for teh Box Plot. Nothing big. If you really want to debate it, go ahead. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bolinstephen (talk • contribs) 00:03, 2 February 2007 (UTC).

Tukey's lemma
Tukey's lemma states, "Each nonempty family of finite character has a maximal element". This lemma is equivalent to the axiom of choice. Might someone care to expound on this in the main article? See. DFH 19:33, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
 * This is also known as the Teichmüller-Tukey lemma because Oswald Teichmüller (1913-1943) had arrived at it independently in 1939. See . DFH 19:38, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation?
How did Tukey pronounce his surname? Was it (for example) TOO-key or TEW-key?

RickD88 23:30, 19 September 2007 (UTC)


 * If by TEW-key you mean a pronunciation like TYOO-kee, with a y glide preceding the first vowel, no, he did not pronounce it that way. (He was, after all, an American, and Americans generally do not use a y glide with long u sounds following a t.)  As a former student of his, I can tell you that he pronounced his name TOO-kee.  To be more precise, the pronunciation of his last name in International Phonetic Alphabet transcription would be, not .  See IPA chart for English or Help:IPA for a pronunciation key.
 * --DavisSta (talk) 05:19, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Quote on randomization
I remember reading Tukey's response to some (misguided) Bayesian arguments that down-playing the importance of randomization (which seem to have been crushed by Donald Rubin, etc.): "If you don't randomize, then you are a damn fool [or damned fool]." This quote might be suitable for the quotes section, if anybody would please locate the source? Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk) 12:55, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Alleged 1956 Usage of "Software"
The print version of the 1956 Hathi Trust source alleged to contain the word "software" in fact uses "software" to mean "people." Although this is an interesting usage analogous to the common usage of "software" to mean "computer program," it clearly does not displace Tukey's status as first known user (Paul Niquette's claim, based on uncorroborated memories many decades old, should not be taken seriously). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.36.100.29 (talk) 02:14, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Discussions with Feynman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj4y0EUlU-Y&hd=1 --5.54.61.94 (talk) 12:21, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

sources for quotations?
The section on Tukey's quotations is completely unsourced. Someone should try to find references.--Declaration1776 (talk) 03:50, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

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A. D. Gordon
The quotation source is probably, and the authors of that article probably had direct communication with A. D. Gordon since the latter was also affiliated with the same university (see e.g. ).

kinsey report quote
A cherry picked favorable quote for Tukey's (actually a committee's) assessment of the Kinsey report. I added a quote from the NYT's obit. https://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/tukey_nytimes.htm 2601:640:8980:7D60:B100:C257:A069:5B0F (talk) 08:33, 28 January 2023 (UTC)