Ruma Falk ( he, רומה פלק, née Oren-Aharonovich, 1932–2020) was an Israeli

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and philosopher of mathematics known for her work on

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...

and human understanding of probability and statistics.

Life

Falk was born in Jerusalem, and educated at the

Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium ( he, הַגִּימְנַסְיָה הָעִבְרִית הֶרְצְלִיָּה, ''HaGymnasia HaIvrit Herzliya'', Also known as ''Gymnasia Herzliya''), originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit (lit. Hebrew High Scho ...

and

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. She completed her PhD on the perception of chance at the Hebrew University in 1975 under the supervision of

Amos Tversky Amos Nathan Tversky ( he, עמוס טברסקי; March 16, 1937 – June 2, 1996) was an Israeli cognitive and mathematical psychologist and a key figure in the discovery of systematic human cognitive bias and handling of risk. Much of his ...

, and became a professor there. She was married to

Raphael Falk Raphael Alexandrovich Falk (1856 – 1913) was a Russian chess master. He took 12th at Moscow 1899 (the 1st Russian Chess Championship, Mikhail Chigorin won), shared 1st with Goncharov in Moscow City Chess Championship in 1901, and tied for 5-7 ...

, a geneticist and historian of science.

Recognition

Falk won the

George Pólya Award The George Pólya Award is presented annually by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for articles of expository excellence that have been published in The College Mathematics Journal. The award was established in 1976 and up to two aw ...

of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

with

Maya Bar-Hillel Maya Bar-Hillel ( he, מיה בר-הלל, born 1943) is a professor emeritus of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Known for her work on inaccuracies in human reasoning about probability, she has also studied decision theory in conn ...

in 1984 for their joint work on probability.

Selected works

Falk was the author of books including: * ''Understanding Probability and Statistics: A Book of Problems'' (

A K Peters A K Peters, Ltd. was a publisher of scientific and technical books, specializing in mathematics and in computer graphics, robotics, and other fields of computer science. They published the journals ''Experimental Mathematics'' and the '' Journal ...

, 1993) * אתגרים לתאים האפורים (''Challenges to the Gray Cells'', Poalim Library Publishing, 2004) * יש בעיה! (''There is a Problem'', Poalim Library Publishing, 2013) * ''Many Faces of the Gambler's Fallacy: Subjective Randomness and Its Diverse Manifestations'' (self-published, 2016) She also created a board game, ברירה וסיכוי (Choice and Chance). Her other publications include: * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falk, Ruma 1932 births 2020 deaths Israeli psychologists Israeli mathematicians Israeli women mathematicians Philosophers of mathematics Probability theorists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty People from Jerusalem Israeli women psychologists