Edwin Thompson Jaynes

Edwin Thompson Jaynes (July 5th, 1922 - April 30th, 1998) was Wayman Crow Distinguished Professor of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. He wrote voluminously on statistical mechanics and on foundations of probability and statistical inference.

A particular focus of his work was the construction of logical principles for assigning prior probability distributions, see the principle of maximum entropy and Laplace's principle of indifference[?].

His last book Probability Theory: The Logic of Science gathers together multiple threads of modern thinking regarding Bayesian probability and statistical inference, tying them into a powerful and coherent whole.

He also illuminates the inconsistencies, inefficiencies and limitations of other techniques, but builds his argument on comparison of results, side-stepping the rhetoric that has mired such discussion in the past.

• A small biographical article is available here (http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/etj.html).

• Many articles by E. T. Jaynes are available here (http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/node1.html).