PV Krishna Iyer obtained his DPhil (1948) from University of Oxford, UK with specialization in mathematical statistics. He was a Professor of Statistics, Panjab University, Chandigarh (till 1968); and a Visiting Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia and at the American University, Beirut (1959-60). Iyer was also Principal Scientific Officer of Defence Science, New Delhi.

Academic and Research Achievements: Iyer applied statistical methods to improve the reliability of field experiments in agricultural research, particularly, for testing: (i) different varieties of sugarcane, wheat and pulses, (ii) manorial trials on different crops, (iii) breeding and selection of wheat, (iv) soil analysis, (v) biological control of pests in sugarcane and other crops, and (vii) analysis of data arising from long-term breeding of Montogomery cows for milk yield. His extensive theoretical studies on probability distributions arising from random and correlated observations in linear, rectangular, and three-dimensional lattices resulted in many new non-parameter procedures for testing both univariate and multivariate samples. He has used maximum likelihood procedures for estimating the parameters of different populations from truncated and censored samples. He achieved improvements in quality control by using different sampling procedures and developed simplified procedures for evaluating product cumulants of multivariate populations.

Awards and Honours: Iyer was President, Statistics Section of Indian Science Congress (1963).