Medical statistician and mathematics educator, Paul Meier was born in Newark on July 24, 1924. He received a B.S. (1945) in physics and mathematics from Oberlin College and an M.A. (1947) and Ph.D. (1951) in mathematics from Princeton University. Meier served on the faculty of Lehigh University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Throughout his career, Meier conducted, oversaw and commented on clinical trials. Meier promoted randomization, which randomly assigns patients under study either to the experimental group or the group receiving standard treatment. He also developed the Kaplan-Meier estimator, a widely accepted standard for estimating a patient's survival. During his distinguished career, Meier was president of both the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Society for Clinical Trials.

Medical statistician and mathematics educator, Paul Meier was born in Newark on July 24, 1924. He received a B.S. (1945) in physics and mathematics from Oberlin College and an M.A. (1947) and Ph.D. (1951) in mathematics from Princeton University.

Throughout his career, Meier conducted, oversaw and commented on clinical trials. In 1954, he worked on the Salk polio vaccine field trials. Early in his career, Meier promoted randomization, which randomly assigns patients under study either to the experimental group or the group receiving standard treatment. Before Meier's efforts, clinical trials had often been imprecise. He also developed the Kaplan-Meier estimator, a widely accepted standard for estimating a patient's survival. In addition, Meier's research influenced the way the federal government assesses and makes decisions about new medical treatments.

Meier was Assistant Professor in mathematics at Lehigh University (1948-1949); researcher at the Philadelphia Tuberculosis and Health Association (1949-1951) and at the Forrestal Research Center, Princeton University (1951-1952); Research Associate (1952-1957), Assistant Professor (1953-1955), and Associate Professor (1955-1957) in the Department of Biostatistics at the School of Hygiene and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University; Since 1957, Associate Professor (1957-1962), Professor (1962-1992), and Professor Emeritus (1992-2011) in the Department of Statistics at the University of Chicago. He was named Ralph and Mary Otis Isham Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Statistics, Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences, Medicine, and the College (1975-1984). In 1992 he became the Howard Levene Professor of Statistics in Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.  After retirement, he was Professor Emeritus at Columbia University.

During his distinguished career, Meier was president of both the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Society for Clinical Trials. He was also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

Paul Meier married Louise Goldstone in 1948 and died at his home in Manhattan in 2011.

This collection (1952-2011, undated) contains correspondence, reports, minutes, programs, a few publications, and a survey on the Institute of Mathematical Studies fellows. The collection documents Meier's involvement with the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (Institute of Mathematical Studies). The papers deal primarily with his tenure as president of the Institute of Mathematical Studies.

The Special Collections Department holds a wide variety of statistical collections including:

American Statistical Association Records (MS 349)
Institute of Mathematical Institute Records (MS 568)
Jerome Cornfield Papers (MS 576)

A listing of statistical collections can be found at: http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/collections/statistics.html

The collection is organized chronologically.