import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame(columns=['A', 'B'])
df['C'] = pd.to_numeric(df['A'])
I am not sure what the correct behavior should be here but it definitely should not crash the kernel.
INSTALLED VERSIONS
------------------
commit: None
python: 3.5.2.final.0
python-bits: 64
OS: Windows
OS-release: 8.1
machine: AMD64
processor: Intel64 Family 6 Model 63 Stepping 2, GenuineIntel
byteorder: little
LC_ALL: None
LANG: None
LOCALE: None.None
pandas: 0.19.2
nose: 1.3.7
pip: 8.1.2
setuptools: 27.2.0
Cython: 0.24.1
numpy: 1.11.3
scipy: 0.18.1
statsmodels: 0.6.1
xarray: None
IPython: 5.1.0
sphinx: 1.4.6
patsy: 0.4.1
dateutil: 2.5.3
pytz: 2016.6.1
blosc: None
bottleneck: 1.1.0
tables: 3.2.2
numexpr: 2.6.2
matplotlib: 1.5.3
openpyxl: 2.3.2
xlrd: 1.0.0
xlwt: 1.1.2
xlsxwriter: 0.9.3
lxml: 3.6.4
bs4: 4.5.1
html5lib: None
httplib2: None
apiclient: None
sqlalchemy: 1.0.13
pymysql: 0.7.9.None
psycopg2: None
jinja2: 2.8
boto: 2.42.0
pandas_datareader: None
Comment From: jreback
you have an older version, this is all fixed on 0.20.3 I think and certainly on 0.21.0
