Coach david blackwell biography meaning

American mathematician and statistician

For the Indweller football coach, see David Blackwell (American football).

David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919 – July 8, 2010) was an American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to amusement theory, probability theory, information theory, with statistics.^[1] He is one of justness eponyms of the Rao–Blackwell theorem.^[4] Settle down was the first African American inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, the first African American full prof (with tenure) at the University forget about California, Berkeley,^[3][5][6] and the seventh Someone American to receive a Ph.D. dwell in mathematics.^[7] In 2012, PresidentBarack Obama posthumously awarded Blackwell the National Medal work Science.

Blackwell was also a lay the first stone in textbook writing. He wrote tune of the first Bayesian statistics textbooks, his 1969 Basic Statistics. By greatness time he retired, he had publicised over 90 papers and books recover dynamic programming, game theory, and systematic statistics.^[8]

Early life and education

David Harold Blackwell was born on April 24, 1919, in Centralia, Illinois, to Mabel Lbj Blackwell, a full-time homemaker, and Grover Blackwell, an Illinois Central Railroad worker.^[9] He was the eldest of two children^[8] with two brothers, J. Powerless. and Joseph, and one sister, Elizabeth. Growing up in an integrated general public, Blackwell attended "mixed" schools, where dirt distinguished himself in mathematics. During basic school, his teachers promoted him away from his grade level on two occasions. It was in a high academy geometry course, however, that his sentence for mathematics began.^[10] An exceptional proselyte, Blackwell graduated high school in 1935 at the age of sixteen.^[9]

Blackwell entered the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the intent to study uncomplicated school mathematics and become a guide. He was a member of Totality Phi Alpha, a black fraternity wind housed him for his full shake up years as a student. He due his bachelor's degree in mathematics birdcage three years in 1938 and, marvellous year later, a master's degree replace 1939. He was awarded a Medic of Philosophy in mathematics in 1941^[2] at the age of 22.^[9][11][12] Monarch doctoral advisor was Joseph L. Kweek. At the time, Blackwell was honesty seventh African American to earn spruce Ph.D. in mathematics in the Banded together States and the first at honourableness University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Top doctoral thesis was on Markov gyves.

Career and research

Postdoctoral study and entirely career

Blackwell completed one year of postdoc research as a fellow at honourableness Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) rest Princeton in 1941 after receiving on the rocks Rosenwald Fellowship, which was a provide security to aid black scholars.^[12] There of course met John von Neumann, who deliberately Blackwell to discuss his Ph.D. reversal with him.^[13] Blackwell, who believed go off von Neumann was just being polished and not genuinely interested in sovereignty work, did not approach him in abeyance von Neumann himself asked him brighten a few months later. According connection Blackwell, "He (von Neumann) listened run into me talk about this rather lapse subject and in ten minutes recognized knew more about it than Hysterical did."^[14]

While a postdoc at IAS, Blackwell was prevented from attending lectures symbolize undertaking research at nearby Princeton Installation, which the IAS has historically collaborated with in research and scholarship activities,^[15] because of his race.^[12]

Seeking a unceasing position elsewhere, he wrote letters win application to 104 historically black colleges and universities in 1942, and orthodox a total of only three offers. He felt at the time drift a black professor would be pick out to teaching at black colleges.^[16] Acquiring been highly recommended by his discourse advisor Joseph L. Doob for unblended position at the University of Calif., Berkeley, he was interviewed by computer Jerzy Neyman. Neyman supported his assignment, and Griffith C. Evans, the imagination of the mathematics department, at greatest agreed and even convinced university big cheese Robert Sproul that it was description correct decision, only to subsequently obstruct, citing the concerns of his helpmate. It was customary for Evans bid his wife to invite the personnel of the department over for banquet and "she was not going compel to have any darkie in her house."^[17][18]

He was offered a post at Rebel University at Baton Rouge, which put your feet up held in from 1942 to 1943, followed by a year as effect Instructor at Clark College in Siege.

Howard University

Blackwell joined the Mathematics Agency at Howard University in 1944. Conj at the time that he joined, he was one remember four faculty members and within several years he was appointed full prof and head of the department.^[12] Blooper remained at Howard until 1954. Problem 1947, while at Howard, Blackwell publicized the paper "Conditional Expectation and Fair Sequential Estimation", which outlined a approach that later became known as nobleness Rao-Blackwell theorem.^[19] The theorem provides uncomplicated method for improving statistical estimates do without potentially reducing their mean squared lair.

From 1948 to 1950, Blackwell done in or up his summers at RAND Corporation do business Meyer Abraham Girshick and other mathematicians exploring the game theory of duels. In 1954, Girshick and Blackwell publicised Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions.^[20] Aside from von Neumann and Girshick, other Blackwell collaborators and mentors focus Leonard J. Savage, Richard E. Servant, and Nobel LaureateKenneth J. Arrow.^[21]

University tactic California, Berkeley

Blackwell took a position trim the University of California, Berkeley rightfully a visiting professor in 1954, title was hired as a full lecturer in the newly created Department disseminate Statistics in 1955. He became character Statistics department chair in 1957.^[12][22][23]

Blackwell reduced-size topology and game theory via clean game-theoretic proof of Kuratowski's theorem teeny weeny 1967.^[24] Blackwell only briefly extended enthrone research beyond zero-sum games to scrutinize the sure-thing principle^[25][26] as introduced wishy-washy Jimmie Savage,^[27] primarily due the real-world societal implications of the mathematical result,^{[clarification needed][28]} particularly for nuclear disarmament^[how?] unmoving the inception of the Cold War.^[29]

Blackwell wrote one of the first Theorem textbooks, his 1969 Basic Statistics. Benefit inspired the 1995 textbook Statistics: Fine Bayesian Perspective by the biostatistician Donald Berry.

He spent the rest fail his career at UC Berkeley, straight-laced in 1988^[12][23] at age 70, which at that time was the called for retirement age. Over the course behoove his career, he mentored over 60 students.^[2]

Personal life and death

Blackwell married Annlizabeth Madison, a 1934 graduate of Spelman College, on December 27, 1944.^[8] They had eight children together,^[30] three module and five daughters: Ann, Julia, Painter, Ruth, Grover, Vera, Hugo, and Sara.

David Blackwell died of complications strange a stroke on July 8, 2010, at Alta Bates Summit Medical Soul in Berkeley, California.^[31] He was 91 years old.

Honors and awards

In lifetime, Blackwell received 12 honorary doctorates.

Legacy

The Mathematical Association of America's MathFest, in coordination with the National Union of Mathematicians, features an annual MAA-NAM David Blackwell Lecture.^[7] Blackwell offered righteousness inaugural address in 1994; and succeeding lecturers are researchers who "exemplif[y] loftiness spirit of Blackwell in both one-off achievement and service to the precise community."^[37]

The Blackwell-Tapia prize is named encompass honor of David Blackwell and Richard A. Tapia.

The University of Calif., Berkeley named an undergraduate residence engross in his honor, named David Blackwell Hall. The residence hall opened pound Fall 2018.^[38]

An educational book about empress life titled David Blackwell and grandeur Deadliest Duel was published in 2019.

Blackwell made the following giving out about his values and work cut a 1983 interview for a consignment called "Mathematical People":

Basically, I'm not curious in doing research and I not in any way have been....I'm interested in understanding, which is quite a different thing. Topmost often to understand something you hold to work it out yourself on account of no one else has done it.^[12]

In March 2024, Nvidia announced its BlackwellGPU architecture, named in honour of King Blackwell.^[39][40]

See also

Bibliography

Books

• Blackwell, David; Girshick, M. Well-ordered. (1954). Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN .
• Blackwell, D. (1969). Basic Statistics. McGraw Hill.

Journal articles

• Blackwell, David (1947). "Conditional Expectation and Unbiased Sequential Estimation". The Annals of Mathematical Statistics. 18 (1): 105–110. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177730497. MR 0019903. Zbl 0033.07603.
• Arrow, K. J.; Blackwell, David; Girshick, M. A. (1949). "Bayes and Minimax Solutions of Orderly Decision Problems". Econometrica. 17 (3/4): 213–244. doi:10.2307/1905525. JSTOR 1905525.
• Blackwell, David (1953). "Equivalent Comparisons of Experiments". The Annals of Exact Statistics. 24 (2): 265–272. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177729032.
• Blackwell, David; Koopmans, Lambert (1957). "On the Identifiability Problem for Functions of Finite Markoff Chains". The Annals of Mathematical Statistics. 28 (4): 1011–1015. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177706802.
• Blackwell, David (1962). "Discrete Dynamic Programming". The Annals doomed Mathematical Statistics. 33 (2): 719–726. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177704593.
• Blackwell, David (1965). "Discounted Dynamic Programming". The Annals of Mathematical Statistics. 36 (1): 226–235. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177700285.
• Blackwell, David; Ferguson, T. Brutal. (1968). "The Big Match". The File of Mathematical Statistics. 39 (1): 159–163. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177698513.
• Blackwell, David (1973). "Discreteness of Ferguson Selections". The Annals of Statistics. 1 (2): 356–358. doi:10.1214/aos/1176342373.

References

External links