Career
Hotelling has a crucial place in the growth of mathematical economics; several areas of active research were influenced by his economics papers. While at the University of Washington, he was encouraged to switch from pure mathematics toward mathematical economics by the famous mathematician Eric Temple Bell. Later, at Columbia University (where during 1933-34 he taught Milton Friedman statistics) in the '40s, Hotelling in turn encouraged young Kenneth Arrow to switch from mathematics and statistics applied to actuarial studies towards more general applications of mathematics in general economic theory. Hotelling is the eponym of Hotelling's law, Hotelling's lemma, and Hotelling's rule in economics.
In addition to his teaching, writing, and professional activities, Hotelling served on the editorial boards of the Annals of Mathematical Statistics and the American Journal of Economics and Sociology. He was elected president of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Econometric Society. He was also elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1937 and served as its vice president in 1941.