David Blackwell, 1919–2010: An explorer in mathematics and statistics

Abstract

David Blackwell, a pioneering explorer who made foundational contributions to several branches of mathematics and statistics, passed away on July 8, 2010. He was born in Centralia, Illinois, on April 24, 1919, and, as his mathematical talents were recognized early, he entered the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign at age 16. Although racial discrimination affected his life and career in painful ways, his accomplishments were eventually rewarded with the honors they deserved, including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1965 as the first Black member and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1968. Nevertheless, his love of mathematics, science, people, and his sunny personality prevailed. Blackwell left contributions that bear his name and other major ideas in five quite different areas of mathematics, statistics, and operations research. David Blackwell. Image credit: The Blackwell family. Blackwell at age 22, the year he received his doctorate and was awarded a prestigious Rosenwald Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Image credit: The Blackwell family. Blackwell ( Center ) with longtime collaborator Meyer A. (“Abe”) Girshick ( Right ) and friend and colleague Kenneth Arrow ( Left ) in 1948. Reprinted from ref. 6 with the permission of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. With limited opportunities available to him, Blackwell initially thought of becoming an elementary school teacher. However, his professors at the University of Illinois soon recognized his talent for mathematics and encouraged him to pursue … [↵][1]1Email: bickel{at}stat.berkeley.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1