Ross Ihaka, co-creator of R, in the Economist

Thanks to Dr George Esaw, I recently learned that Ross Ihaka, co-creator of R, was featured in a full-page advertisement placed in The Economist by the University of Auckland back in April:

Image credit: The Economist / University of Auckland (via George Esaw)

Click on the image for a larger version, and if you can't read the text I've reproduced it here:

He created a language used by millions.

A language called R. And as those millions use it to predict shifts in the stock market, track the behaviour of marine life, or search for a cure for cancer, the effects of this statistical programming language — developed by Associate Professor Ross Ihaka at his colleagues at the University of Auckland — reach far beyond millions.

That said, what Ross is focused on now is the future. As datasets grow larger, so too does the need for R to become more powerful.

So where it's being used by an internet giant in California, or a little-known institute near Cape Town, this adaptive, open-source platform known by just a single letter, will allow the new challenges we face to be understood more deeply, and in turn bring about amazing new breakthroughs.

It's great to see that the University of Auckland is drawing on its heritage as the birthplace of R to give a shout-out to one of its founders!