Akaike also made major contributions to the study of time series.

The Akaike information criterion (AIC) is an estimator of the relative quality of statistical models for a given set of data.

[4] Hirotugu Akaike was born to a silkworm farmer in Fujinomiya City; he was the youngest of four brothers.

[5] Akaike graduated with a bachelor's degree from the School of Science at the University of Tokyo, in 1952.

[6][12] His obituary in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society describes him as being "a most gentle person of great intellect, integrity and generosity".

[5] In 1989, Akaike was awarded the Asahi Prize and the Purple Ribbon Medal.

[1][5][8][14]: 1  In 2000, he was awarded the Gold and Silver Star of the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

[1][5] In 2006, Akaike was awarded the Kyoto Prize;[1][5][8] the official citation states that the Prize was for his "Major contribution to statistical science and modeling with the development of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC)".