Mises

Richard von Mises

Born: 19 April 1883 in Lemberg, Austria (now Lvov, Ukraine)
Died: 14 July 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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Von Mises was an applied mathematician who worked on fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, aeronautics statistics and probability theory. He gave the first university course on powered flight in 1913. In 1915 he made a 600-horsepower plane for the Austrian army and piloted it during the First World War. He was professor of applied mathematics at Strassburg (1909-18) and professor of applied mathematics in Berlin (1920-33). Forced to leave Germany in 1933 he went to Istanbul, then in 1939 he went to Harvard University.

Von Mises contributed greatly to probability and statistics. He made considerable progress in the area of frequency analysis which was started by Venn. He combined the idea of a Venn limit and a random sequence of events. His ideas in this area were controversial.

In his book Positivism: A Study in Human Understanding (1951) he expressed his views on science and life.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. H Geiringer (ed.), Mathematical Theory of Probability and Statistics (New York, 1964).
  4. L Collatz, Richard von Mises, Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik 63 (1983), 278-280. 
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JOC/EFR February 1996