Arthur P. Dempster

Arthur P. Dempster
Dempster in 2010
Born(1929-10-08)October 8, 1929
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedJanuary 30, 2026(2026-01-30) (aged 96)
Alma materPrinceton University (PhD 1956)
University of Toronto (BA 1952; MA 1953)
Known forDempster–Shafer theory,
EM algorithm
AwardsPutnam Fellow (1951)
ASA Fellow (1964)
IMS Fellow (1963)
Guggenheim Fellow
AAAS Fellow (1997)
Scientific career
FieldsStatistics
InstitutionsHarvard University
Thesis The two-sample multivariate problem in the degenerate case  (1956)
Doctoral advisorJohn Tukey
Doctoral studentsAugustine Kong
Nan Laird

Arthur Pentland Dempster (October 8, 1929 – January 30, 2026) was an American mathematician who was professor emeritus in the Harvard University department of statistics. He was one of four faculty members composing the department when it was founded in 1957.