Franz Thomas Bruss is Emeritus Professor of

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he had been director of "Mathématiques Générales" and co-director of the probability chair, and where he continues his research as invited professor. His main research activities in mathematics are in the field of

probability Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an Event (probability theory), event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and ...

: * 1/''e''-law of best choice *

Odds algorithm The odds algorithm (or Bruss algorithm) is a mathematical method for computing optimal strategies for a class of problems that belong to the domain of optimal stopping problems. Their solution follows from the ''odds strategy'', and the importance ...

optimal stopping In mathematics, the theory of optimal stopping or early stopping : (For French translation, secover storyin the July issue of ''Pour la Science'' (2009).) is concerned with the problem of choosing a time to take a particular action, in order to ...

Galton–Watson process The Galton–Watson process is a branching stochastic process arising from Francis Galton's statistical investigation of the extinction of family names. The process models family names as patrilineal (passed from father to son), while offspr ...

es * Resource Dependent Branching Processes *

Borel–Cantelli lemma In probability theory, the Borel–Cantelli lemma is a theorem about sequences of events. In general, it is a result in measure theory. It is named after Émile Borel and Francesco Paolo Cantelli, who gave statement to the lemma in the first de ...

* Robbins' problem (of optimal stopping) * Pascal processes *

BRS-inequality BRS-inequality is the short name for Bruss-Robertson-Steele inequality. This inequality gives a convenient upper bound for the expected maximum number of non-negative random variables one can sum up without exceeding a given upper bound s > 0. Fo ...

Life

Thomas Bruss studied mathematics at the Universities

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. In 1977 he obtained the Dr. rer. nat at

with his thesis ' (Sufficient Conditions for the Extinction of Modified Branching Processes) under Professor Gerd Schmidt, and the legal Dr. en sciences of Belgium one year later. After a scientific career at the

University of Namur A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

he moved to the United States and taught at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

at Santa Barbara,

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, Tucson, and then

at Los Angeles. In 1990 he returned to Europe as professor of mathematics at Vesalius College,

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish Community, Flemish gov ...

. In 1993 he was appointed chair of Mathématiques Générales and Probability at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he has stayed since then. He held visiting positions at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

, Glasgow,

University of Zaire The National University of Zaire (french: Université nationale du Zaïre, or UNAZA) was a federated university in Zaire (the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was formed in August 1971 when the country's three existing universiti ...

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, and repeatedly at the

Université Catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

. Bruss is fellow of the

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Resear ...

, fellow of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts o ...

, elected member of the Tönissteiner Kreis e.V., Germany, and member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

. In 2004 he received the Jacques Deruyts Prize (period 2000–2004) for distinguished contributions to mathematics from the Belgian Academy of Science

Académie Royale de Belgique The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association which promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

. In 2011, Thomas Bruss was honoured Commandeur de Order of Leopold of Belgium. Under his presidency (2017-2019) the Belgian Statistical Society has received royal favour and become the

Royal Statistical Society of Belgium The Royal Statistical Society of Belgium (RSSB), formerly the '' Belgian Statistical Society'' is Belgium's largest statistical society. It represents members of the research and teaching community in Belgium in all major fields of statistical sc ...

(in French: Société Royale Belge de Statistique - in Dutch: Koninklijke Belgische Vereniging voor Statistiek.)

Sources

*Belgian Statistical Society, http://www.sbs-bvs.be/

External links

* *
Thomas Bruss’ Homepage
at ''Département de Mathématique'' of the ''Université libre de Bruxelles''
His publication list
on the Université libre de Bruxelles platform {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruss, F. Thomas 1949 births Living people 20th-century German mathematicians 21st-century German mathematicians Probability theorists Academic staff of the Université libre de Bruxelles

Life

See also

Sources

External links