Who invented profile maximum likelihood estimation? Could anyone give me some information on who invented profile maximum likelihood estimation or who first use profile maximum likelihood estimation and the short history of profile maximum likelihood estimation? I would like to know about any paper on this.
 A: I believe that the first use of the concept of profile likelihoods is in Fisher's own work, as explained here. 
The relevant quote from that link to the book by D. A. Sprott is:

Profile likelihoods have existed for a long time in the form of
  likelihood ratio tests. But these are not used as likelihood functions
  to produce likelihood inferences. The first use of a profile
  likelihood to produce likelihood inferences appears to be Fisher's
  1956 "relative likelihood of the two-by-two table", Fisher (1991c, p.
  136). His likelihood (101) is the profile likelihood of $p_1 = p_2$
  for the $2\times2$ table formed by the two binomial distributions
  (Example 2.9.13). Box and Cox (1964) graphed and used the profile
  likelihood under the name maximized likelihood, but mainly for
  obtaining the maximum likelihood estimate and to establish the
  confidence intervals using the $\chi^2$ likelihood ratio procedure.
  Sprott and Kalbfleisch (1965) used the profile likelihood without
  giving it a name, to produce likelihood inferences. Sprott and
  Kalbfleisch (1969) gave further examples and graphs under the name
  maximum relative likelihood.

