Three Papers by Peter Bickel on Nonparametric Curve Estimation

The following is a brief review of three landmark papers of Peter Bickel on theoretical and methodological aspects of nonparametric density and regression estimation and the related topic of goodness-of-fit testing, including a class of semiparametric goodness-of-fit tests. We consider the context of these papers, their contribution and their impact. Bickel’s first work on density estimation was carried out when this area was still in its infancy and proved to be highly influential for the subsequent wide-spread development of density and curve estimation and goodness-of-fit testing.