Conrad "Conny" Palm (1907–1951) was a Swedish

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

, known for several contributions to teletraffic engineering and queueing theory.

Rolf B. Haugen Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. A ...

The life and work of Conny Palm – some personal comments and experiences
from ''Telektronikk'' (

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

research journal), 2(3):50–55, 1995 Palm enrolled at the School of Electrical Engineering at the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1925, being awarded his

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

(1940) and Ph.D (1943) on a dissertation entitled ''Intensitätsschwankungen im Fernsprechverkehr'' (Intensity Fluctuations in Telephone Traffic). Palm's work was also joint with

L. M. Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...

, cooperating with

Christian Jacobæus Anton Christian Jacobæus (1911 in Stockholm, Sweden–1988) was a Swedish electrical engineer, known for his contributions to teletraffic engineering, especially in the design of the modern crossbar switch used for telephone switching. Jacob� ...

. He attended

Harald Cramér Harald Cramér (; 25 September 1893 – 5 October 1985) was a Swedish mathematician, actuary, and statistician, specializing in mathematical statistics and probabilistic number theory. John Kingman described him as "one of the giants of statist ...

's queueing theory group, met William Feller (1937). Later, Palm was in the Swedish Board for Computing Machinery (''Matematikmaskinnämnden''), where he led the project that developed the first Swedish computer, the

BARK Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

(1947–51), informally referred to as CONIAC (Conny almIntegrator And Calculator). He was adjunct professor in telecommunications at Royal Institute of Technology as well. Professor

Håkan Sterky Håkan is a common Swedish given name. It has a common origin with the Norwegian given name Haakon (modern Norwegian Håkon, Danish Hakon) in the Old Norse ''Hákon''. The meaning of the name is disputed but a possible meaning is "high son" from ...

, who was Palm's thesis advisor, has characterised Palm as a

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

and a brilliant statistician. He had started his research before he graduated, which seemed to be due to a lack of interest for some undergraduate courses rather than the level of difficulty of the courses. To apply pressure on him, it was finally agreed that his monthly salary from Ericsson would only be paid out if he had passed one of his remaining undergraduate exam that month. Sterky related how Palm would typically show up a few days before pay day wishing to sit for an oral exam.Kongl. Elektrosektionen 1910–1985: ''Storamiralerna hos Sekreteraren – Samtal med Håkan Sterky''
(interview with Håkan Sterky in 1985 on the occasion of the Electrical Engineering Student Association's 75th anniversary), accessed on July 20, 2009

Books

* Book edition of Ph.D. thesis of 1943, translated from German to English by

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palm, Conny Swedish electrical engineers Swedish mathematicians Queueing theorists Ericsson people Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni 1907 births 1951 deaths Swedish statisticians 20th-century American mathematicians

Books

See also

References