Edwin Thompson Jaynes (July 5, 1922 – April 30, 1998) was the Wayman Crow Distinguished Professor of Physics at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

. 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 Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

and

statistical inference Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying probability distribution.Upton, G., Cook, I. (2008) ''Oxford Dictionary of Statistics'', OUP. . Inferential statistical analysis infers properties of ...

, initiating in 1957 the maximum entropy interpretation of thermodynamics as being a particular application of more general

Bayesian Thomas Bayes ( ; c. 1701 – 1761) was an English statistician, philosopher, and Presbyterian minister. Bayesian ( or ) may be either any of a range of concepts and approaches that relate to statistical methods based on Bayes' theorem Bayes ...

information theory Information theory is the mathematical study of the quantification (science), quantification, Data storage, storage, and telecommunications, communication of information. The field was established and formalized by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, ...

techniques (although he argued this was already implicit in the works of

Josiah Willard Gibbs Josiah Willard Gibbs (; February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American mechanical engineer and scientist who made fundamental theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynami ...

). 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 In quantum optics, the Jaynes–Cummings model (sometimes abbreviated JCM) is a theoretical model that describes the system of a Two-level system, two-level atom interacting with a quantized mode of an optical cavity (or a bosonic field), with o ...

. A particular focus of his work was the construction of logical principles for assigning

prior probability A prior probability distribution of an uncertain quantity, simply called the prior, is its assumed probability distribution before some evidence is taken into account. For example, the prior could be the probability distribution representing the ...

distributions; see the

principle of maximum entropy The principle of maximum entropy states that the probability distribution which best represents the current state of knowledge about a system is the one with largest entropy, in the context of precisely stated prior data (such as a proposition ...

, the

principle of maximum caliber The principle of maximum caliber (MaxCal) or maximum path entropy principle, suggested by E. T. Jaynes, can be considered as a generalization of the principle of maximum entropy. It postulates that the most unbiased probability distribution of pa ...

, the

principle of transformation groups The principle of transformation groups is a methodology for assigning prior probabilities in statistical inference issues, initially proposed by physicist E. T. Jaynes. It is regarded as an extension of the principle of indifference. Prior proba ...

and

Laplace Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French polymath, a scholar whose work has been instrumental in the fields of physics, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, statistics, and philosophy. He summariz ...

principle of indifference The principle of indifference (also called principle of insufficient reason) is a rule for assigning epistemic probabilities. The principle of indifference states that in the absence of any relevant evidence, agents should distribute their cre ...

. Other contributions include the

mind projection fallacy The mind projection fallacy is an informal fallacy first described by physicist and Bayesian philosopher E. T. Jaynes. In a first, "positive" form, it occurs when someone thinks that the way they see the world reflects the way the world real ...

. Jaynes' book, ''Probability Theory: The Logic of Science'' (2003) gathers various threads of modern thinking about

Bayesian probability Bayesian probability ( or ) is an interpretation of the concept of probability, in which, instead of frequency or propensity of some phenomenon, probability is interpreted as reasonable expectation representing a state of knowledge or as quant ...

and

, 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 Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS (22 April 1891 – 18 March 1989) was a British geophysicist who made significant contributions to mathematics and statistics. His book, ''Theory of Probability'', which was first published in 1939, played an importan ...

, 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.

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 page
on E. T. Jaynes's life and work.
ET Jaynes' obituary at Washington University

http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/entropy.concentration.pdf
Jaynes' 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

See also

References

External links