Adrianus Willem "Aad" van der Vaart (born 12 July 1959) is a Dutch professor of

Stochastics Stochastic (, ) refers to the property of being well described by a random probability distribution. Although stochasticity and randomness are distinct in that the former refers to a modeling approach and the latter refers to phenomena themselve ...

at the Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics at

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

Education and career

Van der Vaart was born in

Vlaardingen Vlaardingen () is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of , of which is land, with residents in . Geogr ...

. He earned his PhD at Leiden University in 1987 with a thesis titled: "Statistical estimation in large parameter spaces" under the supervision of

Willem van Zwet Willem Rutger van Zwet (31 March 1934 – 2 July 2020) was a Dutch mathematical statistician. He was a professor at Leiden University between 1968 and 1999. Biography Van Zwet was born on 31 March 1934 in Leiden. Van Zwet obtained his doctoral de ...

. He became a professor at the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

in 1997. He was appointed as professor of Stochastics at Leiden University in 2012. In 2021 he moved to the

Technical University of Delft Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

Honours

Van der Vaart was elected a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 2009. In 2010 he was an Invited Speaker at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

in Hyderabad, India. He was the recipient of a

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientif ...

Advanced Grant in 2012. In 2015 he was one of four winners of the Dutch

Spinoza Prize The Spinoza Prize ( nl, Spinozapremie) is an annual award of 2.5 million euro, to be spent on new research given by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "Willia ...

and received a 2.5 million euro grant. He was awarded the prize for his research on mathematical models that help track genes for cancer research. On being awarded the prize Van der Vaart stated that 2.5 million euro was too much, claiming he could have 35 postdoctoral and Ph.D. students work with the grant. In June 2019 van der Vaart was made a Knight of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

Bibliography

* * * * *

References

External links

Profile at Leiden University
1959 births Living people Dutch statisticians Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Vlaardingen Spinoza Prize winners Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Mathematical statisticians Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Bayesian statisticians {{Netherlands-scientist-stub