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A PRIORI
I was born as the first child of Andries Johannes Laubscher and
Johanna Margaretha (neé Lubbe), on Saturday, 28 July 1934, in Paarl, South Africa. My childhood was
spent on a farm near the small town of Tadcaster at Vaalhartz in the Northern Cape, where I also matriculated in 1951 at the Vaalhartz High School.
From here, I moved to Potchefstroom
University for further studies. My wife and I currently reside in the beautiful town of Stellenbosch
in the Western Cape.
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Academic qualifications achieved at Potchefstroom University (now North-West University):
| 1952 - 1956 | B.Sc. (Mathematics & Applied mathematics) | |
| Honns. B.Sc. (Mathematics & statistics) | ||
| M.Sc. (Mathematics & statistics) |
| 1957 - 1959 | D.Sc. (Statistics) | |
| Dissertation: "On transformations for the stabilization of variance and the normalization of distribution functions". | ||
| Promoters: Proff. H S Steyn, Sr. & J M de Wet. |
| 1957 - 1974 | Head of Statistics Division, National Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (of the CSIR, Pretoria). | |
| 1975 - 1986 | Professor of Statistics, University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). | |
| 1987 - 1989 | Professor of Statistics, Stellenbosch University. | |
| 1990 - 1996 | Company Statistician, S A Nylon Spinners (Pty) Ltd., Bellville. | |
| 1996 - present | Founder and director of InduStat Pro cc. |
| 1959 - 1960 | One year visit at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Guest of Professor Jack Wolfowitz. | |
| 1967 | Visiting Rothamsted Experimental Station in England, the Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam, various Statistical Institutes in the USA and Research Laboratories of the CSIRO in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia. | |
| 1974 | One year visit to Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Invited by Professor Ingram Olkin. | |
| 1983 | One year visit to Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Zürich. Invited by Professor Frank Hampel. |
South African Statistical Association
Member: 1957 - present
President: 1973
Fellow: 1974
Editor of the SA Statistical Journal: 1975 - 1977.
American Statistical Association
Member: 1974 - present
South African Mathematical Society
One of the founding members: 1957.
Design of experiments (DOE) and the analysis of data obtained through DOE.
Statistical process control
Data mining
| 1957 - 1965 | Mainly worked in the application of statistics to the physical sciences: physics, chemistry, engineering, wood research, road research and nutritional science. | |
| 1966 - 1986 | In this period the most important applications were in the field of medical and biological sciences. From this work about 20 publications were written in support of the statistical aspects of research in medicine, mostly in The South African Medical Journal. This work mostly dealt with basic health care but also includes applications in zoology and botany. | |
| 1987 - 1989 | During this time, as chief consulting statistician at the University of Stellenbosch, there was a diverse field of application, but mainly in psychology, sociology and education. | |
| 1989 - 1996 | As company statistician at S.A. Nylon Spinners my work dealt with the application of statistical science to the manufacturing of polymer, synthetic yarn and in engineering. I also undertook a study for SANS in 1993 on statistical models in forecasting the incidence of HIV and AIDS. | |
| 1996 - present | Industrial statistics. |
| Marriage | I have been married to Maud since October 1961 and we have three wonderful children and six grandchildren. | |
| Gardening |
 I am a keen gardener (we both are) currently restricted to a small garden on
which I grow only some special plants. My favourite is an Aloe nubigena plant after
which I have looked for more than 40 years! Other plants are: Chasmanthe floribunda var
Duckittii (yellow chasmanthe), Watsonia marginata and other watsonias, Freesia
grandiflora, etc. Some succulents are grown in pots like Aloe erinacea and A.
pictifolia. I also have a few cycads in pots as well as some Encephalartos
seedlings. |
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| Photography |
 My interest in birds, animals, trees, wild flowers and in fact the whole of
nature leads naturally to photography. I find much satisfaction in photographing these wonderful
creatures in their natural state. One of our great excitements when visiting a park is to review
the day's photographs on a laptop. (See some of my favourites further down) |
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| Golf |
 I am an active member of the Stellenbosch Golf Club. Walking on the course
and sneaking off to the side to see the nest of a spotted eagle owl pair, or to go into the deep
rough to get a quick view of a patch of Pterygodium catholicum orchids in full flower
(only 10cm tall !) gives me great pleasure. I am assisting the green keeper in selecting trees
for the course, identifying spots to plant new trees and to help the club to care for them. |
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| Travel |
 We like to visit Kruger National Park at least twice a year. The Kgalagadi
Transfrontier Park, Ndumo and Mkuzi parks in Northern
Kwazulu-Natal compete seriously for second best holiday spot. |
| Some of my favourite photographs (click to see larger size): | ||||
 Impala lily (Shingwedzi) |
 Gladiolus priorii |
 Sugar bird (Fernkloof) |
 Pelargonium magentium (Clanwilliam) |
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 Greyia radlkoferi (Louwsburg) |
 Aloe broomii (Philipolis) |
 Babiana sp. |
 Romulea sabulosa (Nieuwoudtville) |
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 Ursinia calenduliflora (Namaqualand) |
 Colpias mollis (Nourivier) |
 Erica sp. (Stormsrivier) |
 Gladiolus sp. |
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 Sparaxis sp. (Clanwilliam) |
 Dierama (Louwsburg) |
 Ruschia sp. (Clanwilliam) |
 Pelargonium sp. (Skilpad) |
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 Morea sp. |
 Fever trees (Ndumo) |
 Baobob (Tshokwane) |
 Fever trees (Ndumo) |
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 Encephalartos altensteinii |
 Burchell's coucal (Shingwedzi) |
 Phaenocoma prolifera (Fernkloof) |
 Greyheaded shrike |
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 Kraalogie |
 Magpie shrike (Kruger) |
 Fiscal shrike |
 Lilac-breasted roller (Juvenile) |
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 White-fronted bee-eater |
 Natal francolin (Satara) |
 Southern ground hornbill (Tshokwane) |
 Southern ground hornbill (Tshokwane) |
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 Secretary bird (Kgalagadi) |
 Saddlebill storks (Shingwedzi) |
 Fiscal shrike (Kgalagadi) |
 European roller |
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 Purple-crested turaco |
 Elephant bull (Shingwedzi) |
 Buffalo (Shingwedzi) |
 Sable antelope |
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 Leopard |
 Golden Gate National Park |
 Golden Gate National Park |
 Scree in Golden Gate |
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 Near Mbyamithi |
 "Blou" and "Kemun" |
 Fungi (Tsitsikamma) |
 Argyroderma delaetii (Knersvlakte) |
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