[R] [Repost][Off Topic] Pointers needed for breakthrough in statistics

[Michael]

Hi all,

Sorry for the reposting... I was advised to repost this question with
more specific title. I apologize for this off-topic question but I
really need your help -- I know there are lots of experts here.

As a lover and student of statistics, I am thinking of building a tree
of various branches of statistics and keeping track of the greatest
historical inventions/discoveries in statistics and the latest
development of each branch. The goal is to understand in what context
did the great inventions come out and then try to follow the greatest
minds in terms of creating future significant inventions/discoveries
in the statistics field... This is the "learn-from-the-greatest-minds"
approach.

Could anybody give me some pointers about existing books/articles
about the greatest inventions/discoveries in statistics? And topic
list? Here the "statistics" is in the broad sense, including
data-mining, complex data-set, large data-set, etc. We also want to
talk about not only the concepts, but also the tools and
methodologies.

Thanks a lot!