Herman Chernoff (born July 1, 1923) is an American

applied mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History One ...

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 ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was formerly a professor at

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, Stanford, and

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, currently emeritus at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Early life and education

Herman Chernoff's parents were Pauline and Max Chernoff, Jewish immigrants from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He studied at

Townsend Harris High School Townsend Harris High School (THHS; often also shortened to Townsend Harris or simply Townsend) is a public high school for the humanities in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the campus of Queens College, a public college p ...

and earned a B.S. in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

in 1943. He attended graduate school at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, earning an M.Sc. in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

in 1945, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1948 under the supervision of Abraham Wald.

Recognition

Chernoff became a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1974, and was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1980. In 1987, he was selected for the Wilks Memorial Award by the American Statistical Association, and in 2012, he was made an inaugural fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

Personal life

Herman Chernoff's met his future wife, Judith, when they were both graduate students at Brown University in 1945, and married her in 1947. She died at the age of 98 on June 9, 2023. At the time of her death they were believed to be the oldest couple living in Massachusetts. Chernoff turned 100 on July 1, 2023.

References

External links

Chernoff's faculty profile
at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

.
Chernoff's faculty profile
at

.
Chernoff's biography
on the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.
Chernoff's author profile
on

MathSciNet MathSciNet is a searchable online bibliographic database created by the American Mathematical Society in 1996. It contains all of the contents of the journal ''Mathematical Reviews'' (MR) since 1940 along with an extensive author database, links ...

.
Chernoff's profile
on Mathematics Genealogy. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chernoff, Herman 1923 births 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American mathematicians 21st-century American physicists Living people Mathematicians from New York (state) Brown University alumni Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the American Statistical Association Harvard University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Presidents of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Townsend Harris High School alumni American men centenarians Jewish American scientists American mathematical statisticians Jewish centenarians

Early life and education

Recognition

Personal life

See also

References

External links