Richard von Mises | Biography

Mises was born in Lemberg, Austria. His father was a technician with the Austrian railways and his brother became an accomplished economist. Mises received his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1907, became professor of mathematics at the University of Strassburg, France, and later directed the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the University of Berlin. His lifelong preoccupation was the application of mathematics to practical problems.

Mises is best known for his work in statistics and probability theory. In two papers published in 1919, which drew little notice at the time, Mises helped to devise a mathematical definition of probability, thereby quantifying certain vague conceptions held previously. For example, mathematicians know that the probability of getting "heads" on a coin toss is 1/2 because, if we could flip the coin over and over again indefinitely, the frequency of heads would tend toward 1/2. Mises managed to translate this intuition into rigorous mathematical terms. His formulation, an elaboration of the frequency theory of probability, has had a profound influence on modern statistical analysis, although the mathematics of the theory have remained somewhat controversial. Even though Mises popularized his views in a successful 1928 book, Probability, Statistics and Truth, his contribution to probability theory remains undervalued.

In 1913, Mises learned to fly an airplane and taught one of the first university courses on the mechanics of powered flight. He assisted in the development of an air arm to the Austrian army after the outbreak of World War I and was the project leader for the creation of a powerful military aircraft with an original wing design. A booklet on flight that Mises published in 1916 became the basis of a later collaboration, with British scientists, called The Theory of Flight, which was published near the end of World War II.

Mises work in probability theory, fluid dynamics, and aerodynamics contributed to his reputation as a versatile applied mathematician of the first rank. Mises was proud of his founding, in 1921, of the journal Zeitschrift für angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik (Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics), which he edited until the rise of the Nazis. In 1933, Mises left Germany and emigrated to Turkey, where he taught at the University of Istanbul. In 1939 he became a member of the faculty of Harvard University, where he was named the Gordon McKay Professor of Aerodynamics and Applied Mathematics in 1944, a position he held until his death in 1953.