Thomas
Bayes
b.
c. 1702 London, England
d.
17 April 1761 Tunbridge Wells,
Kent, England
Little
is known of the life of
Thomas Bayes. He spent his life serving as a Nonconformist
minister at Tunbridge Wells. In 1742 he was elected to the Royal
Society.
An anonymous tract "An Introduction to the Doctrine of Fluxions, and a
Defence of the Mathematicans against the objections of the Author of
the
Analyst, in so far as they are designed to affect the general method of
reasoning" has been credited to Bayes. Another paper ``A
letter
from the late Reverend Mr. Thomas Bayes, F.R.S. to John Canton, M.A.
and F.R.S.," published in
the Philosophical
Transactions
(pp. 269-271) in 1763 on semi-convergent asymptotic series was authored
by him.
Bayes is known today
solely for "An
Essay
towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of
Chances." This was communicated
to the Royal Society in a letter
dated
10 November 1763 by Richard Price and read 23 December. Following this
is ``A
Demonstration of the Second Rule in the Essay towards the Solution of a
Problem in the Doctrine of Chances,
published in the Philosophical
Transactions, Vo. VIII. Communicated by the Rev. Mr. Richard Price, in
a Letter to Mr. John Canton, M.A. F.R.S." These two papers in more
readable format are here: Essay and Demonstration.
These materials as well as others may be found at the University
of York site.