Thomas Bayes
Thomas Bayes-born 1702 in London- died 1761 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent- has been one of the greatest contributors to mathematics, most specifically the fields of probability and statistics. He is said to be the first to use probability inductivity. He established a "mathematical basis" for probability inference which is "the means of calculating, from the frequency with which and event has occurred in prior trials, the probability that this event will occur in the future". This is known as the Bayesian view which also says that "all quantities are one of two kinds: known or unknown to the person making the inference- known quantities defined by their known values- and unknown quantities described by a joint probability distribution.
Bayes was born in London England, and was privately educated by his parents. He later went one to be ordained a Nonconformist minister like his father. He continued his work as a minister in Tunbridge Wells until 1752 when he retired. His burial tomb is located in Bunhill Fields Cemetery in London.
Thomas Bayes wrote a number of different papers that discussed and described his work although there are only two that are known to be published: "Divine Providence and Government Is the Happiness of His Creatures" (1731) and "An Introduction to the Doctrine of Fluxions, and a Defence of the Analyst (1736). He is most well known for his paper "Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances" which was published in 1764.
The Bayes Theorem was published in 1763. It states:
P(H/E,C)= P(H/C) P(E/H,C) / P(E/C)
It is still unclear what Bayes intended to do with this calculation. This theorem can be derived from the Product Rule of Probability. Controversy around this theorem developed because "Conditional Independence does not always hold" which is what Bayes was trying to prove.
However, although the work of Thomas Bayes has been controversial, it brought forth many new and unique mathematical ideas that are still being benefited from today.