PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Leonard Kaufman

Leonard Kaufman is a statistician whose work on cluster analysis gave researchers methods for finding groups in data. He published Clustering by Means of Medoids in 1987 and coauthored Finding Groups in Data with Peter J. Rousseeuw in 1990, which presents the PAM and CLARA programs. His later work connected statistics with clinical research, epidemiology education, and health-service planning for music gatherings; by 2023, he was an honorary member of Belgium's Royal Academy of Medicine. As of October 2026, he is an emeritus affiliated with Vriendenkring VUB.

Now at
Vriendenkring VUB

Timeline

  1. 1980

    On hierarchies in clustering

    In 1980, he coauthors a VUB report on hierarchies in clustering methods with Massart and Frank Plastria.

  2. 1983

    Cluster analysis for chemistry

    In 1983, he coauthors a Wiley work on using cluster analysis to interpret chemical data.

  3. 1987

    Clustering by Means of Medoids

    In 1987, he publishes Clustering by Means of Medoids, a report from Delft’s Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. It runs to 28 pages.

  4. 1990

    PAM and CLARA

    He and Peter J. Rousseeuw publish Finding Groups in Data in 1990, an introduction to cluster analysis. It presents the PAM and CLARA programs, with CLARA designed to run faster on large data sets.

  5. 2003–2005

    EPISTAT for epidemiology

    From 2003 to 2005, he co-promotes EPISTAT, an interactive ICT learning environment for epidemiology and statistics. At BISI, he helps build its focus on statistics for clinical research and medical informatics.

  6. 2009–2020

    Clinical studies and PRIMA

    In 2009, he coauthors a study on how baseline lymphocyte counts and autoreactivity relate to outcomes after islet-cell transplantation in type 1 diabetes. In 2020, he coauthors a validation of Belgium's PRIMA model for patient encounters at music gatherings; PRIMA has the lowest mean deviation among the predicted patient-presentation rates.

  7. 2023

    Honorary academy membership

    In 2023, he is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium (KAGB).

  8. As of October 2026

    Emeritus at Vriendenkring VUB

    As of October 2026, he is an emeritus affiliated with Vriendenkring VUB. His expertise includes the design and statistical analysis of clinical studies, randomisation for clinical trials, and cluster-analysis algorithms.

Career

  1. NowVriendenkring VUBEmeritus
  2. 2003–2005BISI

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Vrije Universiteit Brussel. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Vrije Universiteit Brussel. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Leonard Kaufman yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. On hierarchies in clustering methods - Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchportal.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. The interpretation of analytical chemical data by the use of cluster analysis. - Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchportal.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Clustering by Means of Medoids - Leonard Kaufman - Google Buku books.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. FINDING GROUPS IN DATA: AN INTRODUCTION TO CLUSTER ANALYSIS - Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchportal.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Finding Groups in Data: An Introduction to Cluster Analysis - Leonard Kaufman, Peter J. Rousseeuw - Google Buku books.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Finding groups in data: an introduction to cluster analysis: authored by Leonard Kaufman and Peter J. Rousseeuw, John Wiley and Sons, 2005, ISBN: 0-47-1-73578-7 - PMC Lock pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Leonard Kaufman - Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchportal.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Biostatistics and medical informatics VUB bisi.research.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Differences in Baseline Lymphocyte Counts and Autoreactivity Are Associated With Differences in Outcome of Islet Cell Transplantation in Type 1 Diabetic Patients - Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchportal.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Validation of a Belgian Prediction Model for Patient Encounters at Music Mass Gatherings - Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchportal.vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Sebastiaan Engelborghs in 'KAGB | Vrije Universiteit Brussel vub.be. Checked 21 October 2026.