Conrad "Conny" Rudolf Agaton Palm (May 31, 1907 – December 27, 1951) was a Swedish

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

, known for several contributions to

teletraffic engineering Teletraffic engineering, or telecommunications traffic engineering is the application of transportation traffic engineering theory to telecommunications. Teletraffic engineers use their knowledge of statistics including queuing theory, the natu ...

and

queueing theory Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because th ...

. Rolf B. Haugen
The life and work of Conny Palm – some personal comments and experiences
from ''Telektronikk'' (

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

research journal), 2(3):50–55, 1995

Education and career

Palm enrolled at the School of Electrical Engineering at the

Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. Since 2018, KTH consist ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in 1925, being awarded his M.Sc. (1940) and Ph.D. (1943) on a dissertation entitled ''Intensitätsschwankungen im Fernsprechverkehr'' (Intensity Fluctuations in Telephone Traffic). Palm's work was also joint with L. M. Ericsson, cooperating with Christian Jacobæus. He attended

Harald Cramér Harald Cramér (; 25 September 1893 – 5 October 1985) was a Swedish mathematician, actuary, and statistician, specializing in mathematical statistics and probabilistic number theory. John Kingman described him as "one of the giants of statis ...

's queueing theory group, met

William Feller William "Vilim" Feller (July 7, 1906 – January 14, 1970), born Vilibald Srećko Feller, was a Croatian–American mathematician specializing in probability theory. Early life and education Feller was born in Zagreb to Ida Oemichen-Perc, a Cro ...

(1937). Later, Palm was in the Swedish Board for Computing Machinery (''Matematikmaskinnämnden''), where he led the project that developed the first Swedish computer, the

BARK Bark may refer to: Common meanings * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...

(1947–51), informally referred to as CONIAC (Conny almIntegrator And Calculator). He was adjunct professor in

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

at Royal Institute of Technology as well. Professor Håkan Sterky, who was Palm's thesis advisor, has characterised Palm as a

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

and a brilliant statistician. He had started his research before he graduated, which seemed to be due to a lack of interest for some undergraduate courses rather than the level of difficulty of the courses. To apply pressure on him, it was finally agreed that his monthly salary from

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

would only be paid out if he had passed one of his remaining undergraduate exam that month. Sterky related how Palm would typically show up a few days before pay day wishing to sit for an oral exam.Kongl. Elektrosektionen 1910–1985: ''Storamiralerna hos Sekreteraren – Samtal med Håkan Sterky''
(interview with Håkan Sterky in 1985 on the occasion of the Electrical Engineering Student Association's 75th anniversary), accessed on July 20, 2009

Books

* Book edition of Ph.D. thesis of 1943, translated from German to English by Christian Jacobæus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palm, Conny Swedish electrical engineers Swedish mathematicians Queueing theorists Ericsson people Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni 1907 births 1951 deaths Swedish statisticians 20th-century American mathematicians People from Stockholm Swedish engineers

Education and career

Books

See also

References