David John Aldous FRS (born 13 July 1952) is a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

known for his research 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 its applications, in particular in topics such as

exchangeability In statistics, an exchangeable sequence of random variables (also sometimes interchangeable) is a sequence ''X''1, ''X''2, ''X''3, ... (which may be finitely or infinitely long) whose joint probability distribution does not change whe ...

, weak convergence,

Markov chain mixing time In probability theory, the mixing time of a Markov chain is the time until the Markov chain is "close" to its steady state distribution. More precisely, a fundamental result about Markov chains is that a finite state irreducible aperiodic chain has ...

s, the continuum random tree and stochastic coalescence. He entered

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

, in 1970 and received his Ph.D. at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1977 under his advisor, D. J. H. Garling. Since 1979 Aldous has been on the faculty at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He was awarded the

Rollo Davidson Prize The Rollo Davidson Prize is a prize awarded annually to early-career probabilists by the Rollo Davidson trustees. It is named after English mathematician Rollo Davidson (1944–1970). Rollo Davidson Trust In 1970, Rollo Davidson, a Fellow-elec ...

in 1980, the

Loève Prize The Line and Michel Loève International Prize in Probability (Loève Prize) was created in 1992 in honor of Michel Loève by his widow Line. The prize, awarded every two years, is intended to recognize outstanding contributions by researchers i ...

in 1993, and was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1994. In 2004, Aldous was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. From 2004 to 2010, Aldous was an

Andrew Dickson White Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American historian and educator who cofounded Cornell University and served as its first president for nearly two decades. He was known for expanding the scope of college curricu ...

Professor-at-Large at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. He was an invited speaker at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

(ICM) in 1998 in Berlin and a plenary speaker at the ICM in 2010 in Hyderabad. In 2012 he became a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 3 November 2012. He discovered (independently from

Andrei Broder Andrei Zary Broder (born April 12, 1953 in Bucharest) is a distinguished scientist at Google. Previously, he was a research fellow and vice president of computational advertising for Yahoo!, and before that, the vice president of research for Al ...

) an algorithm for generating a

uniform spanning tree A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, s ...

of a given graph.

Selected publications

Books

As editor

* (pbk reprint of 1995 original) * (pbk reprint of 1996 original)

Papers

*Aldous, David, "Deterministic and stochastic models for coalescence (aggregation and coagulation): a review of the mean-field theory for probabilists". Bernoulli 5 (1999) pp. 3–48. *Aldous, David, "Exchangeability and related topics". Lecture Notes in Math., 1117 (1985) pp 1–198. Springer, Berlin.

References

External links

* *
Dynkin Collection Interview
1952 births Living people Probability theorists Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences International Mathematical Olympiad participants {{US-mathematician-stub