Nicholas Saunderson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 20 January 1682 Thurlstone, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 19 April 1739 (aged 57) Cambridge, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Penistone Grammar School University of Cambridge |
| Spouse | Abigail Dickons |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society (1718) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
Nicholas Saunderson FRS (20 January 1682 – 19 April 1739) was a blind[1] English scientist and mathematician. According to one historian of statistics, he may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes' theorem.[2] He worked as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post also held by Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking.
- ^ H F Baker, Nicholas Saunderson or Sanderson, in Dictionary of National Biography Vol L (London, 1897), 332-333.
- ^ Stephen M. Stigler, Who Discovered Bayes's Theorem?, The American Statistician, Vol. 37, No. 4, Part 1 (November 1983), pp. 290–296; collected in Stephen M. Stigler (1999), Statistics on the Table: The History of Statistical Concepts and Methods, pp. 291–301, Harvard University Press ISBN 978-0-674-83601-3 (hbk) ISBN 978-0-674-00979-0 (pbk).