Franz Thomas Bruss (born 27 September 1949 in Kleinblittersdorf (Saarland)) is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

, where he had been director of "Mathématiques Générales" and co-director of the probability chair, and where he continues his research as invited professor.

Life

Thomas Bruss studied mathematics at the Universities

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. In 1977 he obtained the Dr. rer. nat at

with his thesis ' (Sufficient Conditions for the Extinction of Modified Branching Processes) under Professor Gerd Schmidt, and the legal Dr. en sciences of Belgium one year later.

Academic career

After a scientific career at the

University of Namur A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

he moved to the United States and taught at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

at Santa Barbara,

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, Tucson, and then

at Los Angeles. In 1990 he returned to Europe as professor of mathematics at

Vesalius College Vesalius College, also known as VeCo, is a private college located in Brussels, Belgium. Founded in 1987, it is named after Andreas Vesalius, a pioneering anatomist of the Renaissance period. The college is associated with the Vrije Universitei ...

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

. In

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

he was appointed chair of Mathématiques Générales and Probability at the

, where he has stayed since then. He held visiting positions at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

, Glasgow, University of Zaire,

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in Flanders. ...

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, and repeatedly at the

Université Catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

. Bruss is fellow of the

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...

, fellow of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts ...

, elected member of the Tönissteiner Kreis e.V., Germany, and member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. At a meeting of the Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, statisticians met and formed the agreed statues of the International Statistical ...

. In 2004 he received the Jacques Deruyts Prize (period 2000–2004) for distinguished contributions to mathematics from the Belgian Academy of Science

Académie Royale de Belgique The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association that promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

. In 2011, Thomas Bruss was honoured Commandeur de

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

of Belgium. Under his presidency (2017–2019) the Belgian Statistical Society has received royal favour and become the

Royal Statistical Society of Belgium The Royal Statistical Society of Belgium (RSSB), formerly the '' Belgian Statistical Society'' is Belgium's largest statistical society. It represents members of the research and teaching community in Belgium in all major fields of statistical sc ...

( – )

Contributions

His main research activities and achievements in mathematics are in the field 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 ...

. He published 64 research papers concerning: * 1/''e''-law of best choice *

Odds algorithm In decision theory, the odds algorithm (or Bruss algorithm) is a mathematical method for computing optimal strategies for a class of problems that belong to the domain of optimal stopping problems. Their solution follows from the ''odds strategy' ...

optimal stopping In mathematics, the theory of optimal stopping or early stopping : (For French translation, secover storyin the July issue of ''Pour la Science'' (2009).) is concerned with the problem of choosing a time to take a particular action, in order to ...

Galton–Watson process The Galton–Watson process, also called the Bienaymé-Galton-Watson process or the Galton-Watson branching process, is a branching stochastic process arising from Francis Galton's statistical investigation of the extinction of family names. The ...

es * Resource Dependent Branching Processes *

Borel–Cantelli lemma In probability theory, the Borel–Cantelli lemma is a theorem about sequences of events. In general, it is a result in measure theory. It is named after Émile Borel and Francesco Paolo Cantelli, who gave statement to the lemma in the first d ...

* Robbins' problem (of optimal stopping) * Pascal processes *

BRS-inequality BRS-inequality is the short name for Bruss-Robertson-Steele inequality. This inequality gives a convenient upper bound for the expected maximum number of non-negative random variables one can sum up without exceeding a given upper bound s > 0. Fo ...

Sources

External links

A path through probability in honour of F.Thomas BRUSS
at ''Département de Mathématique'' of the ''Université libre de Bruxelles''
FT Bruss Webpage
on the

platform {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruss, F. Thomas 1949 births Living people 20th-century German mathematicians 21st-century German mathematicians Probability theorists Academic staff of the Université libre de Bruxelles

Life

Academic career

Contributions

See also

Sources

External links