Shewhart studied physics at U Illinois and U California. In 1918 he joined the Western Electric Company which made hardware for Bell Telephone. A major problem was the reliability of the transmission systems. Study of this problem led to Shewhart’s introduction of the control chart (see quality control), invented in 1924 and popularized in his 1931 book Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Products. He was President of the IMS in 1937 and again in 1944. He was President of the ASA in 1945.

http://www.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/ShewhartWalter.pdf Fuller biography and photograph.