Abstract
A number of closely related mathematical models were developed in the early decades of the 20th century to explain the apparent paradox between the second law of thermo-dynamics and its meaning in statistical mechanics, to model the number of calls in a telephone exchange, and to verify experimentally the theory of Brownian motion. In this lecture, the speaker will give a historical review of these models and then jump ahead to the end of the century to discuss a very similar model and essentially the same question that reappeared in the statistical foundations of gene mapping in experimental genetics.
About the speaker
Prof David Siegmund received his PhD in Mathematical Statistics from Columbia University in 1966. After being an Assistant and then a full Professor at Columbia, he went to Stanford University in 1976, where he is currently the John D. & Sigrid Banks Professor of Statistics.
Prof Siegmund’s research interest focused on statistical problems that arise in concrete scientific applications and require novel probability theory for their resolution. Recently he has concentrated on statistical aspects of genetic mapping, i.e., the identification of the location of genes giving rise to phenotypes such as diseases in humans or mammalian model organisms, desirable quantitative traits in agriculturally important plants and domestic livestock.
Prof Siegmund held visiting positions in Jerusalem, Heidelberg, Oxford, Cambridge, the Free University of Amsterdam, and Singapore. He was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on advisory committees for the US National Science Foundation, the US National Research Council and for research institutes in Berkeley, Palo Alto, Singapore, and Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
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