Here's a brief description. From:
http://www.famousscientists.org/pierre-simon-laplace/
"Pierre-Simon Laplace was a prominent French mathematical physicist and astronomer of the 19th century, who made crucial contributions in the arena of planetary motion by applying Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation to the entire solar system. His work regarding the theory of probability and statistics is considered pioneering and has influenced a whole new generation of mathematicians."
A more in-depth look at his role as statistician can be found here.
http://statprob.com/encyclopedia/PierreSimonMarquisDeLAPLACE.html
I love this quote:
'Probability is basically good sense, reduced to a calculus."