Robert Osher Schlaifer (13 September 1914 – 24 July 1994) was an American statistician who was a pioneer of Bayesian decision theory.
During the Second World War he started writing technical reports and produced a major volume on the development of aircraft engines.
He had very little mathematical background and Raiffa recalled how they worked together: "I would teach him something about linear algebra in the morning and he would show me how it could be applied in the afternoon."
In making the award Bob Winkler noted Schlaifer's pioneering efforts in decision analysis.
Winkler also quoted the following assessment from Howard Raiffa, who worked with Schlaifer and was the recipient of the first Ramsey Medal in 1984: In the preface to the second 1971 edition of Foundations of Statistics Savage wrote: Schlaifer's book with John W. Pratt and Raiffa was published posthumously and his co-authors wrote this dedication: Schlaifer was involved in the development of military aircraft engines and fuels prior to World War II.