Muriel Bristol

B. Muriel Bristol-Roach (21 April 1888 – 15 March 1950), Ph.D., was a scientist working in the field of alga biology who worked at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in 1919.^[1] In addition to her scientific work, she is notable for being the woman whose claim to be able to tell whether the milk or the tea was poured into a cup first prompted Ronald Fisher to devise Fisher's exact test to assess the statistical significance of such claims; see lady tasting tea. The test was actually performed, and Bristol-Roach successfully identified "more than enough ... to prove her case".^[2]

References

1. Daniel F. Jackson, Algae, Man, and the Environment: Proceedings of an International Symposium (1969)
2. "Lady Tasting Tea", from Lt. Col. Rod Sturdivant, Ph.D., U.S. Military Academy, Dept. of Mathematical Sciences