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Thomas Bayes

English statistician and minister known for Bayes' theorem.

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Bayes's name is attached to a theorem that he formulated for a specific case.[1] Richard Price edited and published Bayes's notes after his death, as Bayes himself never published his most famous work.[2]

Key facts and history

Bayes was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1742.[3] Logic and theology were the subjects Thomas Bayes studied after enrolling at the University of Edinburgh in 1719.[4] After returning from university around 1722, Bayes helped his father at his London chapel; around 1734 he relocated to Tunbridge Wells, Kent.[4] A solution to an inverse probability problem by Bayes was presented in the posthumously read 1763 work An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances.[5]

Cass Business School, located on Bunhill Row in the City of London, was announced in April 2021 as being renamed after Bayes.[6]

What the research sources say

The IMS Bulletin notes that "the date of his birth is not known: Bayes's posterior is better known than his prior"[7] The IMS Bulletin states that "it may be impossible to determine Thomas Bayes's exact date of birth"[7] The inscription on Bayes's tomb reads "Thomas Bayes, Son of the said Joshua and Ann Bayes (59)"[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Thomas Bayes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bayes's portrait The IMS Bulletin, Vol. 17 (1988), No. 3, pp. 276–278.; Belhouse, D.R. The Reverend Thomas Bayes FRS: a Biography to Celebrate the Tercentenary of his Birth . (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Thomas Bayes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. (2011). (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Thomas Bayes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660–2007", The Royal Society (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Thomas Bayes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Reverend Thomas Bayes FRS – A Biography", Institute of Mathematical Statistics (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Thomas Bayes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bayes, Thomas, "An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances", Philosophical Transactions, 1763, p. 370–418; Edwards, A. W. G. "Commentary on the Arguments of Thomas Bayes," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1978), pp. 116–118; retrieved 6 August 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Thomas Bayes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cass Business School to be renamed after statistician Thomas Bayes", Financial Times, 21 April 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Bayes's portrait The IMS Bulletin, Vol. 17 (1988), No. 3, pp. 276–278.. facts only, no text reused. york.ac.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Thomas Bayes (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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