W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993) was an American statistician and industrial engineer who began as an electrical engineer before turning to mathematical physics. He was best known for his theories of management, set out in books such as Out of the Crisis and The New Economics. He helped develop sampling techniques still used by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and he was often called the father of the quality movement, whose ideas were hugely influential in postwar Japan.