Richard Arnold Epstein (March 5, 1927 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

– July 5, 2016), also known under the pseudonym E. P. Stein, was an American game theorist.

Education

Epstein obtained his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, in 1948. He then studied at the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

. He received his doctorate in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, on the Born formalization of isochromatic lines, in 1961, from the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

Career

He then shifted from

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

to space communications, and worked for eighteen years as an electronics and communications engineer for various U.S. space and missile programs. He was variously employed by Parsons-Aerojet Company at

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company, also known as The Martin Company from 1917 to 1961, was an American aircraft and aerospace industry, aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many impo ...

, TRW Space Technology Laboratories, the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

, and Hughes Aircraft Space Systems Division. Epstein has numerous technical publications in the areas 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 ...

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

, and

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

s. In 1956, he was made a member of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

Achievements

''The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic'' ranks as the most popular of Epstein's technical books. He served as a consultant to public and private

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

s in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Macao Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

, and he had testified on technical aspects of gambling in several court cases. Under the pseudonym "E. P. Stein", he authored various popular works of fiction, as well as historic and non-fictional books, and wrote for TV and motion pictures.

Death

Epstein died on July 5, 2016.

Books by Epstein

* Richard A. Epstein, ''The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic'' (revised edition), Academic Press, 1995, . (Second edition), Academic Press, 2009, .

Selected journal publications by Epstein

* Richard A. Epstein, "An automatic synchronization technique," ''IEEE Transactions on Communication Technology,'' Vol. 13(4), pp. 547–550, 1965. * Richard A. Epstein, "Relative coverage of large ground antennas," ''IEEE Transactions on Space Electronics and Telemetry,'' Vol. 10(1), pp. 31–83, 1964.

Popular works under the pseudonym E. P. Stein

* Anna K. Brando and E. P. Stein, '' Brando for Breakfast'', Berkley Pub Group, 1980, . * E. P. Stein, ''Flight of the

Vin Fiz The Wright Model EX is an early biplane built by the Wright Brothers. It is a scaled-down, single-seat derivative of the Wright Model B designed specifically for exhibition flying (hence the "EX" designation). Two examples were built. One of the ...

,'' Arbor House, 1985, .

Notes

References

* P. Green Jr., "Review of 'The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic' (Epstein, R. A.; 1967)," ''IEEE Transactions on Information Theory'', Vol. 15(5), pp. 637–638, 1969. * Richard W. Hamming, "Games of Chance. (Book Reviews: The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic)," ''Science'', Vol. 161(3844), pp. 878, 1968.

External links

Richard Arnold Epstein at the MathSciNet

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Richard A. 21st-century American physicists 1927 births 2016 deaths University of Barcelona alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni American probability theorists American expatriates in Spain American game theorists