Chernoff was educated at City College (now City U) NY and at Brown U, where he obtained his doctorate in 1948. After a period at U Illinois (Urbana) he moved to Stanford U in 1952. In 1974 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT and in 1985 moved to become Professor of Statistics at Harvard U. He now holds the title of Professor Emeritus at both MIT and Harvard U. His statistical interests include optimal experimental design, pattern recognition, and sequential sampling. In 1968 when he was President of the IMS he was its Wald Lecturer. In 1989 he was its Rietz Lecturer. In 1975 he was the COPSS Fisher Lecturer and in 1987 he was the ASA's Wilks Award winner. He was the 2013 Rao Prize recipient.

http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=euclid.ss/1032280306 Fuller biography, interview, and photographs.