
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 ...
in
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 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� ...
.
See also
* Palm calculus
In the study of stochastic processes, Palm calculus, named after Swedish teletrafficist Conny Palm, is the study of the relationship between probabilities conditioned on a specified event and time-average probabilities. A Palm probability or ...
* Palm–Khintchine theorem
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