Statistical inference of phylogenies almost didn’t happen. The story of the origin, growth, and spread of “statistical phylogenetics” needs to be told, because it is so strange. It is not the straightforward story of gradual spread that one might imagine. It starts with the development of numerical methods in systematics, whose modern proponents were Sokal and Sneath. Their work, embodied in th...

Numerical methods are now widely used in the classification of bacteria, and they are also being explored in the field of identification. Identification is the major interest for clinical work, but it should be emphasized that good taxonomies are a prerequisite for satisfactory schemes of identification or diagnosis. Much remains to be done in the taxonomy of bacteria, and for this reason a bri...