Saturday, July 25, 2015

Laplace is visited by Doing Bayesian Data Analysis

After a post from almost two years ago inviting folks to pose the book with famous Bayesians or non-Bayesians (deceased or not), the book has finally visited a monument to Laplace! Shown below (scroll down) are photos kindly taken by Carlos Ungil. Thank you Carlos for basking the book in the glow of Laplace! 

DBDA2E acknowledges the impact of Laplace on p. 100: "many historians argue that it is Bayes’ successor, Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), whose name should really label this type of analysis, because it was Laplace who independently rediscovered and extensively developed the methods (e.g., Dale, 1999; McGrayne, 2011)." (I have been told later that Laplace might have been aware of the article by Bayes and Price, so maybe Laplace "merely" extensively developed the methods without independently rediscovering Bayes' rule. I'll let the historical scholars figure it out.) 

[From first comment to the post, inserted here for extra visibility: "xi'an said... Dear John, would it be possible to mention that this statue stands in Beaumont-en-Auge, Normandy, close to Deauville and Caen? Some visitors may be interested, even though it is not as convenient as Bayes' tomb in Bunhill Fields... A local"]

The book visited Jacob Bernoulli twice: here (2nd edition) and here (1st edition). The book visited R. A. Fisher here (1st edition). The book visited Bayes here (1st edition).