Robert Wedderburn (statistician)

Robert William Maclagan Wedderburn (1947–1975) was a Scottish statistician who worked at the Rothamsted Experimental Station. He was co-developer, with John Nelder, of the generalized linear model methodology, and then expanded this subject to develop the idea of quasi-likelihood.

Wedderburn was born in Edinburgh, where he attended Fettes College, then studied for a degree and a diploma in statistics at the University of Cambridge. He died aged 28 of anaphylactic shock from an insect bite while on a canal holiday.

"His colleagues remember him as someone of engaging diffidence, who would nonetheless hold his own in argument when he was sure he was right (as he usually was)." — John Nelder