Edwin Thompson Jaynes (July 5, 1922 – April 30, 1998) was the Wayman Crow Distinguished Professor of Physics at
Washington University in St. Louis. He wrote extensively on
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...
and on foundations of
probability and
statistical inference, initiating in 1957 the
maximum entropy interpretation of thermodynamics as being a particular application of more general
Bayesian/
information theory techniques (although he argued this was already implicit in the works of
Josiah Willard Gibbs). Jaynes strongly promoted the interpretation of
probability theory
Probability theory or probability calculus is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expre ...
as an extension of
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
.
In 1963, together with his doctoral student
Fred Cummings, he
modeled the evolution of a
two-level atom in an electromagnetic field, in a fully quantized way.
This model is known as the
Jaynes–Cummings model.
A particular focus of his work was the construction of logical principles for assigning
prior probability distributions; see the
principle of maximum entropy, the
principle of maximum caliber, the
principle of transformation groups and
Laplace's
principle of indifference. Other contributions include the
mind projection fallacy.
Jaynes' book, ''Probability Theory: The Logic of Science'' (2003) gathers various threads of modern thinking about
Bayesian probability and
statistical inference, develops the notion of
probability theory as extended logic, and contrasts the advantages of Bayesian techniques with the results of other approaches. This book, which he dedicated to
Harold Jeffreys, was published posthumously in 2003 (from an incomplete manuscript that was edited by
Larry Bretthorst).
Other of his doctoral students included
Joseph H. Eberly and
Douglas James Scalapino.
See also
*
Differential entropy
*
Limiting density of discrete points
References
External links
*
* Edwin Thompson Jaynes
''Probability Theory: The Logic of Science''.Cambridge University Press, (2003). .
(fragmentary) of ''Probability Theory: The Logic of Science''. Book no longer downloadable for copyright reasons.
* A comprehensiv
web pageon E. T. Jaynes's life and work.
ET Jaynes' obituary at Washington Universityhttp://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/entropy.concentration.pdfJaynes' analysis of
Rudolph Wolf's dice data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaynes, Edwin Thompson
1922 births
1998 deaths
American agnostics
20th-century American physicists
American statisticians
Washington University in St. Louis mathematicians
Washington University in St. Louis physicists
Scientists from Missouri
20th-century American mathematicians
Statistical physicists
Information theorists
American probability theorists
Cornell College alumni
Bayesian statisticians
Philosophers of probability