Rauser

We'll spare you the equation Rauser showed on the screen, but essentially it is a set of algebraic equations with three unknowns.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

Rauser believes this skill set is critical for helping enterprises solve and conquer the 21st century's big-data challenges.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

We'll spare you the equation Rauser showed on the screen, but essentially it is a set of algebraic equations with three unknowns.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

Like today's technologist, Mayer had more detail than he could handle with his current set of tools, "and had to invent his way out of the situation," Rauser said.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

Like today's technologist, Mayer had more detail than he could handle with his current set of tools, "and had to invent his way out of the situation," Rauser said.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

Rauser believes this skill set is critical for helping enterprises solve and conquer the 21st century's big-data challenges.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

That is the central theory of John Rauser, principal engineer at Amazon.com, who spoke recently at O'Reilly's Strata Conference in New York.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

"This is the first time in history someone made a quantitative argument that more data is better, which makes Tobias Mayer the first data scientist in my mind," Rauser said.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

According to Rauser, 18th-century German astronomer Tobias Mayer was the first "data scientist," a in short, a person who possess both pure mathematical and applied engineering skills, and can apply both of them in a useful way.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011

"This is the first time in history someone made a quantitative argument that more data is better, which makes Tobias Mayer the first data scientist in my mind," Rauser said.

Forbes.com: News Dan Woods 2011