Rabindranath Tagore and Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis shared a lifelong relationship of mutual admiration, love and respect. The poet inspired the statistician to reach new heights while the latter took it upon himself to promote Tagore's ideals and his works around the globe.
PCM is credited with introducing the world to "Mahalanobis distance", a measurement used in population studies, which is depicted in the doodle by UK-based illustrator Nishant Choksi
A man of great originality, Mahalanobis will be remembered for his contribution to statistical theory and practice and for the establishment of the Indian Statistical Institute in 1931; the Department of Statistics of Calcutta University in 1941; and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 1950.
