MacTutor
The Sverdrup Prize
In 2007 the Norwegian Statistical Association set up the Sverdrup Prize to be awarded every second year to a statistician, either in the theoretical area or in applied statistics. There are actually two awards, one to a leading researcher in statistics, the other to a young statistician under the age of 40 who has published a high quality paper in a leading journal. The first awards were made in 2009. It is named for Erling Sverdrup who was the professor of mathematical statistics and insurance mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at Oslo University from 1953 to 1984. The Norwegian Statistical Association has a conference every two years and usually the Sverdrup Prize is awarded at this conference.
Erling Sverdrup (1917-1994) was an actuarial student in Oslo when German forces attacked Norway in April 1940. He joined the Free Norwegian Forces and played a major role in the Norwegian cryptography unit during World War II. He made visits, organising cipher services, to Helsinki, Stockholm, Moscow, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. before moving to London, England, in 1942. He completed his studies at the University of Oslo and qualified as an actuary in 1945. He continued his cipher work until, in 1948, he was appointed as an assistant to the Mathematical Insurance Seminar at the University of Oslo, the department of the university that trained actuaries. He studied for a Ph,D. in the United States at Berkeley, Chicago and Columbia, receiving the degree from the University of Oslo in 1952. In the following year he was appointed as professor of mathematical statistics and insurance mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at Oslo University. In 1954 he was elected to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and he was elected an honorary member of the Norwegian Statistical Association. In 1969 he was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Eminent statistician Sverdrup Prize
2009 Dag Tjostheim
2011 Tore Schweder
2013 Nils Lid Hjort
2015 Odd Olai Aalen
2017 Omulf Borgan
Young statistician Sverdrup Prize
2009 Sara Martino
2011 Ida Scheel
2013 Ingrid Hobaek Haff and Kjetil Roysland
2015 Tore Selland Kleppe
2017 Geir-Arne Fuglstad
Erling Sverdrup (1917-1994) was an actuarial student in Oslo when German forces attacked Norway in April 1940. He joined the Free Norwegian Forces and played a major role in the Norwegian cryptography unit during World War II. He made visits, organising cipher services, to Helsinki, Stockholm, Moscow, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. before moving to London, England, in 1942. He completed his studies at the University of Oslo and qualified as an actuary in 1945. He continued his cipher work until, in 1948, he was appointed as an assistant to the Mathematical Insurance Seminar at the University of Oslo, the department of the university that trained actuaries. He studied for a Ph,D. in the United States at Berkeley, Chicago and Columbia, receiving the degree from the University of Oslo in 1952. In the following year he was appointed as professor of mathematical statistics and insurance mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at Oslo University. In 1954 he was elected to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and he was elected an honorary member of the Norwegian Statistical Association. In 1969 he was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Eminent statistician Sverdrup Prize
2009 Dag Tjostheim
2011 Tore Schweder
2013 Nils Lid Hjort
2015 Odd Olai Aalen
2017 Omulf Borgan
Young statistician Sverdrup Prize
2009 Sara Martino
2011 Ida Scheel
2013 Ingrid Hobaek Haff and Kjetil Roysland
2015 Tore Selland Kleppe
2017 Geir-Arne Fuglstad