Richard von Mises

Quotes

• “I am prepared to concede without further argument that all the theoretical constructions, including geometry, which are used in the various branches of physics are only imperfect instruments to enable the world of empirical fact to be reconstructed in our minds.”
• “In games of chance, in the problems of insurance, and in the molecular processes we find events repeating themselves again and again. They are mass phenomena or repetitive events.”
• “Insurance companies nowadays apply the principle of so-called 'selection by insurance'; this means that they take into consideration the fact that persons who enter early into insurance contracts are on the average of a different type and have a different distribution of death ages from persons from persons admitted to the insurance at a more advanced age.”
• “The whole financial basis of insurance would be questionable if it were possible to change the relative frequency of the occurrence of the insurance cases (deaths, etc.) by excluding, for example, every tenth one of the insured persons, or by some selection principal.”
• “It has been asserted - and this is no overstatement - that whereas other sciences draw their conclusions from what we know, the science of probability derives its most important results from what we do not know.”
• “Because certain elements of geometry have for a long time been included in the general course of education, every educated man is able to distinguish between the practical task of the land surveyor and the theoretical investigation of the geometer. The corresponding distinction between the theory of probability and statistics has yet to be recognized.”

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Key facts

Born

19 April 1883, Lemberg , Austria-Hungary

Died

14 July 1953 (1953-07-14) (aged 70), Boston , Massachusetts , US

Education

Vienna University of Technology

Known for

von Mises distribution , Von Mises transformation , Von Mises statistic , Bernstein–von Mises theorem , Cramér–von Mises criterion , von Mises yield criterion , Von Mises–Fisher distribution , Random sequence , Sample space , V-statistic

Spouse

Hilda Geiringer

Relatives

Ludwig von Mises (brother)

Fields

Solid mechanics , fluid mechanics , aerodynamics , aeronautics , statistics and probability theory

Institutions

Brno University of Technology , University of Strasbourg , TU Dresden , Humboldt University of Berlin , University of Istanbul , Harvard University

Doctoral advisor

Georg Hamel

Doctoral students

Geoffrey S. S. Ludford , Stefan Bergman , Hermine Agavni Kalustyan

via Wikipedia infobox

Key dates

Born

19 April 1883

Died

14 July 1953

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Wikidata facts

Instance of

human

Given name

Richard

Gender

male

Citizenship

Austria

Place of birth

Lviv

Place of death

Boston

Spouse

Hilda Geiringer

Sibling

Ludwig von Mises

Occupation

philosopher

Educated at

Akademisches Gymnasium

Languages spoken

English language

Notable work

yield surface

Doctoral advisor

Georg Hamel

Field of work

aerodynamics

Conflict

World War I

Image

Portrait of Richard von Mises (1883-1953), Mathematician and Engineer (2551839576) (cropped).jpg

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