Activities of the Mathematician Mr David Blackwell - Essay Example

Mathematician Mr. David Blackwell David Blackwell is a famous African-American mathematician who has contributed so much in the field of mathematics in the statistical field theory. David was born in 1919 in Illinois. He died in 2010 at the age of 91. He was born to a father who was a worker in a railway station and his mother was s stay at home mum who took care of his younger siblings because he was the first born. The statistician theorist was born in a family of six. He was very apt when it came to mathematics, though he did not concentrate so much on algebra and trigonometry which he says that though he could be able to do it, it was not much more intriguing for him to do such topics, what he has been so much interested in was geometry since it connected with activity as well as motion. He asserted loving the idea of a helping line where a problem would be solved, that seemed previously impossible. When Blackwell joined high school, a teacher became of much help to him through advocating him to the high school head of the mathematics club by the name of Mr. Huk. He would find problems in a journal of school science and Mathematics and he would bring them to the club for the students to solve. Blackwell, being smart in mathematics was featured in the journal for three times. On one occasion, he was able to solely solve a problem and it was published in that journal with the assist of the club chair, Mr. Huk. At only sixteen years, David Blackwell started his degree in mathematics at Illinois University. The parents were convinced that the children would join college, but they had less to do with the courses that they took. Considering that his father was a worker in a railway station, the money they shared in the family was not always enough for all his needs to be met. With this, he had to work as a cleaner in several occasions to make through the college. In three years, however, he was able to complete his undergraduate degree in the university. This was not the end, though he wanted to become a high school mathematics teacher or an elementary mathematics teacher, he always kept postponing the idea and continued studying and furthering his career in statistical theories of mathematics. He continued studying even after his undergraduate degree and this saw him earning a masters degree in one and a half year, a shorter time than what most scholars take. His enthusiasm for mathematics saw him earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree in mathematics when he was only 22 years old. When he was through with his studies, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton at the institute of advanced study. When here, he applied for many teaching positions in several black colleges since much discrimination was still persistent and black teachers were not accepted in white colleges. To be precise, he sent a hundred and four applications requesting for a teaching position. Out of the 104 applications that he did, he got confirmation from three. He decided to go to Southern University, which is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After teaching in Southern University, he taught at Clark College in Georgia for a year. Later he got a position to teach at Howard University, Washington DC. This, he calls the ambition of every black scholar. He went up through the ranks in a short period. It took him three years to be promoted to the position of the head of department in the university. His interest in statistics was much provoked by a talk which was made by Abe Girshik on the sequential analysis and that changed the way that Blackwell visualized sampling. The normal practice where scientists limit their samples before they started working, on this, Abe Girshik proposed that the scientists should sample until they see enough. Through this, David saw statistics being applied in a real life situation which intrigued him. During the presentation, Abe proposed a theory which Blackwell did not contend with. In retrospect, he wrote a theory which he thought was the appropriate one and he sent it to Abe, seeking to challenge the work that he had done. (Crimes, 2010)Abe, who was a highly experienced mathematician in the field of statistics, took the challenge and though the theory that Blackwell had proposed was wrong, he invited him over for coffee. This bore a cooperation between the two professionals that saw the duo publishing an article titled Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions after 12 years of cooperation. After 1954, he stopped working with Howard University. He was offered a position at the University Of California, where he worked as a visiting professor. Later, he was absorbed by the university as a full professor in the statistics department, which was a newly created department in the university. He became a chair of the department in 1956. For the rest of his years, he worked at the University of California, Berkeley until 1988 when he retired. Mr. David Blackwell had many achievements throughout his life. First, he achieved many honorary degrees from various universities in the United States. Some of the universities which awarded him honorary degrees includes the University of Illinois, Michigan State University, Southern Illinois university, Carnegie-Mellon University, Amherst College, Harvard university, Howard University, Yale university, University of Warwick, Syracuse University and the University of Southern California. All these honorary degrees were in recognition of the great work that he had done in the field of mathematical statistics and his contribution to the society through science. Besides the Honorary degree awards, he achieved much in the professional service and has various honors to his name. These honors include that: he became the president of the institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1955, in 1965; he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences which was a great achievement. In the year 1968, David Blackwell was elected to the American academy of Arts and Sciences, he was elected the vice president of the American Mathematical Society, a position he held up to 1971, for three years. Later, became the Chairman of the Faculty of Research Lecture Committee in 1072, he held the position for one year up to 1973. In the year 1973, he became the president of the International Association for Statistics in the Physical Sciences. In the year 1975 to 1978 he became the president of the Bernoulli Society of Mathematical statistics and Probability. He later became the president of the International statistical institute between the years 1975 and 1977. The year following his election as the president of Bernoulli Society, he was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. (Berkely.edu)Mr. David Blackwell also has various prizes owing to his prowess in mathematics and probability statistics. In 1986, he was awarded the Fisher Award by the committee of Statistical Societies. In 1979 he was awarded the John Von Neumann Theory Prize. David also achieved much through his association with the various professional societies. He was member in many, including: the American mathematical society, the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, American Institute of advancement of science among others. Mr. David Blackwell came up with various discoveries as a mathematical scholar. Most of the discoveries that he came up with were in the field of statistics and probability. His first discovery was on the Equation of Wald which he wrote in the year 1946. The discovery was based on proving Wald’s theorem under weaker conditions than it had previously been proven. On this theorem, he proved that the convergence of large numbers is true and that the expected value of each S1 must be infinite, so that they must converge to the expectation of E (S1) this scholar also worked on the Minimax versus Bayes Prediction. He managed to discover that the best method of prediction is by the use of Bayes prediction over the minimax prediction method. In this case, you let x = (x1, x2,…) is an infinite sequence of 0s and 1s, initially unknown to you. On day n = 1,2,…, you observe hn= (x1, …, xn–1), the first n – 1 terms of the sequence, and must predict xn. He used statistical methods and proved that Bayes Prediction worked best in such a case. David Blackwell also proved that there are no Boreal SPLIFFS, contrary to what many statisticians had believed previously. He also discovered the stochastic processes of borel Gambling and dynamic Programming. Here, he provided practical examples of how to integrate the two. He also discovered the discreteness of Ferguson selections in the year 1973. Further to that, he discovered much in the gaming world through his work on Infinite games and Analytics sets. Later, he also discovered a set in Borel’s Theorem, which did not contain a graph between 1968. He also discovered the information theory in 1961. (David, 1961)This has changed the thinking of many statisticians. Works cited Berkely.edu. "Blackwell Biography." 12 June 2009. Berkely.edu. Document. 12 March 205. Crimes, William. "David Blackwell, Scholar of Probability, Dies at 91." 17 July 2010. New York Times. Print. 12 March 2015. David, Blackwell. "Information Theory." Modern Mathematics for the Engineer (1961): 189-193. Document. Read More

Later he got a position to teach at Howard University, Washington DC. This, he calls the ambition of every black scholar. He went up through the ranks in a short period. It took him three years to be promoted to the position of the head of department in the university. His interest in statistics was much provoked by a talk which was made by Abe Girshik on the sequential analysis and that changed the way that Blackwell visualized sampling. The normal practice where scientists limit their samples before they started working, on this, Abe Girshik proposed that the scientists should sample until they see enough.

Through this, David saw statistics being applied in a real life situation which intrigued him. During the presentation, Abe proposed a theory which Blackwell did not contend with. In retrospect, he wrote a theory which he thought was the appropriate one and he sent it to Abe, seeking to challenge the work that he had done. (Crimes, 2010)Abe, who was a highly experienced mathematician in the field of statistics, took the challenge and though the theory that Blackwell had proposed was wrong, he invited him over for coffee.

This bore a cooperation between the two professionals that saw the duo publishing an article titled Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions after 12 years of cooperation. After 1954, he stopped working with Howard University. He was offered a position at the University Of California, where he worked as a visiting professor. Later, he was absorbed by the university as a full professor in the statistics department, which was a newly created department in the university. He became a chair of the department in 1956.

For the rest of his years, he worked at the University of California, Berkeley until 1988 when he retired. Mr. David Blackwell had many achievements throughout his life. First, he achieved many honorary degrees from various universities in the United States. Some of the universities which awarded him honorary degrees includes the University of Illinois, Michigan State University, Southern Illinois university, Carnegie-Mellon University, Amherst College, Harvard university, Howard University, Yale university, University of Warwick, Syracuse University and the University of Southern California.

All these honorary degrees were in recognition of the great work that he had done in the field of mathematical statistics and his contribution to the society through science. Besides the Honorary degree awards, he achieved much in the professional service and has various honors to his name. These honors include that: he became the president of the institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1955, in 1965; he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences which was a great achievement. In the year 1968, David Blackwell was elected to the American academy of Arts and Sciences, he was elected the vice president of the American Mathematical Society, a position he held up to 1971, for three years.

Later, became the Chairman of the Faculty of Research Lecture Committee in 1072, he held the position for one year up to 1973. In the year 1973, he became the president of the International Association for Statistics in the Physical Sciences. In the year 1975 to 1978 he became the president of the Bernoulli Society of Mathematical statistics and Probability. He later became the president of the International statistical institute between the years 1975 and 1977. The year following his election as the president of Bernoulli Society, he was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. (Berkely.edu)Mr.

David Blackwell also has various prizes owing to his prowess in mathematics and probability statistics. In 1986, he was awarded the Fisher Award by the committee of Statistical Societies. In 1979 he was awarded the John Von Neumann Theory Prize. David also achieved much through his association with the various professional societies. He was member in many, including: the American mathematical society, the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, American Institute of advancement of science among others. Mr.

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