Abstract

The paper traces events and protagonists that marked the evolution, at a thematic and content level, of the teaching of statistics held at Milan’s Università Cattolica in the years between the University’s foundation in 1921 and the end of the 1930s. A key University figure in this subject area was the statistician Marcello Boldrini, who originated from the Marche region. He was one of the most illustrious figures of Italian 19th-century statistical science and gave life to a school of scholars and researchers capable of making a significant contribution to the various applied branches of the subject, with particular emphasis placed on the study of demographics. The teaching and research interests pursued by the Boldrini school during these years focused on central themes of scientific debate of the period. Academics from the Università Cattolica participated with their original cultural and specialist approach, in their capacity as experts in statistical issues in biology, anthropometry, socio-economics, demography, and biometry.