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Ask HN: Did Chamath Palihapitiya coin/invent the 'data scientist' job role?
In his podcast session with Lex Fridman, Chamath mentions how he coined the term data scientist for a new recruit at Facebook and how that started the whole data scientist role/field.
I was just curious how accurate this is. Was this the first instance of the term? I found it quite interesting
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQUDCgMjRc&t=2255s
- chirau 4y agoHere is a link to the conversation at the point he talks about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQUDCgMjRc&t=2255s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQUDCgMjRc&t=2255s
- genezeta 4y agoFrom [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_science ]: > Early usage > In 1962, John Tukey described a field he called "data analysis", which resembles modern data science. In 1985, in a lecture given to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, C. F. Jeff Wu used the term "data science" for the first time as an alternative name for statistics. ... > The term "data science" has been traced back to 1974, when Peter Naur proposed it as an alternative name for computer science. ... > Modern usage > In 2012, technologists Thomas H. Davenport and DJ Patil declared "Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century", a catch-phrase that was picked up even by major-city newspapers like the New York Times and the Boston Globe. ... > The modern conception of data science as an independent discipline is sometimes attributed to William S. Cleveland. In a 2001 paper ... > The professional title of "data scientist" has been attributed to DJ Patil and Jeff Hammerbacher in 2008. ... > There is still no consensus on the definition of data science, and it is considered by some to be a buzzword. ... --- You can also read [ https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2013/05/28/a-very-short-history-of-data-science/?sh=10ecdb555cfc https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2013/05/28/a-very-shor... ] which mentions quite a few previous references to the term. --- But of course any random "Entrepreneur - Businessman - Venture capitalist" can claim to have invented anything and if he repeats it a number of times, he can end up building a strong enough perception of it being true.