Bayes, Thomas
The Englishman Thomas Bayes (ca 1701 - 1761), son to a Presbyterian minister, was an statistician and philosopher.
After having worked as a minister, he took a deep interest in probability. He developed Bayes' theorem, which gives a mathematical rule for inverting conditional probabilities, allowing the probability of a cause to be found given its effect.
He lent his name to the concept of Bayesian probability.
See also
Last modified:10 January 2026 1.15 p.m.