G. D'Agostini - Some historical studies
The Gauss' Bayes Factor
The Fermi's Bayes Theorem
A contribution to the historical section of the
ISBA Bullettin.
- Document
- Primary sources
- J. Orear, Enrico Fermi, the master scientist (local copy, pdf 3.8MB).
- J. Orear, Notes on statistics for physicists, revised version
(local copy, pdf 0.6MB)
- E. Fermi, Note e memorie ('collected paper'):
Vol. 1,
Vol. 2
- N. Metropolis, The beginning of the Monte Carlo method,
appeared in the
Special Issue
of Los
Alamos Science (nr. 15, 1987) in memory of
Stan Ulam.
- N. Metropolis and S. Ulam, The Monte Carlo method,
J. Amer. Stat. Assoc., 44 (1949) 335-341
pdf available here (local copy)
[It contains
an interesting example by Fermi on how to solve a
time-independent Schroedinger equation by sampling,
transforming it
into a diffusion problem via proper change of variables]
- C.F. Gauss, Theoria motus corporum coelestium..., Book 2,
Sec. 3 (pp. 205-224)
(These pages contains also the
Gauss' Bayes Factor -- see above.)
A short account, in modern terminology, is given in
Bayesian reasoning in data analysis:
- For some details on the missing steps between Eq.(6.53) and Eq.(6.54)
see here.
[The 1857 C.H. Davis' translation has been recently reprinted!]
- Secondary sources
- What does `Bayesian' mean?
Why does the meter beat the second?
A research and some reflections about the origin of the meter
done in collaboration with Paolo Agnoli.
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