Henry Scheffé was born on April 11, 1907 in New York City, the son of poor German immigrants. He studied mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, earning a BA degree in 1931 and a PhD degree in 1935. Scheffé held academic positions at Oregon State University, Syracuse University, the University of California at Los Angeles, Columbia University, where he was chair of the statistics department, and finally the University of California, Berkeley.
Scheffé made important contributions in mathematical statistics, particularly in the areas of analysis of variance, simultaneous confidence intervals, optimality theory, and the design of experiments.
Henry Scheffé died on July 5, 1977, the result of a bicycle accident.