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layout: person nodeid: bookofproofs$Lukacs categories: history,20th-century parentid: bookofproofs$604 tags: origin-hungary,statistics orderid: 1906 title: Lukacs, Eugene born: 1906 died: 1987 keywords: eugene lukacs,lukacs description: Eugene Lukacs was a Hungarian-American statistician known for his work on characterisation of distributions and stability theory. references: bookofproofs$6909 contributors: @J-J-O'Connor,@E-F-Robertson,bookofproofs

Lukacs.jpg

Eugene Lukacs was a Hungarian-American statistician known for his work on characterisation of distributions and stability theory.

Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):

  • After primary and the Realgymnasium secondary school, Lukacs entered the Technical University in Vienna in 1925 where he studied mechanical engineering.
  • After taking his first degree, Lukacs continued to study at Vienna for his doctorate.
  • This was no time to get an academic position in a university, so Lukacs took a post as a secondary school teacher in Vienna.
  • All this was bad news for Lukacs, particularly since he was Jewish.
  • Lukacs left school teaching in 1933 and took up a position as an actuary at an insurance company, having E Helly, another of Jewish origin, amongst his colleagues in the insurance company.
  • In 1937 Lukacs left the insurance company.
  • Elizabeth Lukacs left for the United States late in 1938 while Eugene left some time later, reaching the United States in February 1939.
  • While at the University of Vienna, Lukacs had met Wald who was also a Hungarian Jew.
  • Wald was working on statistics and probability and he persuaded Lukacs to take an interest in this topic too.
  • However Elizabeth Lukacs found a post teaching at Garrison High School in Baltimore and she encouraged Eugene to apply for a position at Friends High School in Baltimore.
  • In 1942 Lukacs had made an important contribution to mathematical statistics by introducing, for the first time, the method of differential equations in characteristic function theory.
  • After moving to Cincinnati, Lukacs worked with Szász who had held a post there from 1936.
  • He continued at Our Lady of Cincinnati College until 1953, although he spent some leave working as a mathematical statistician at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. In 1953 Lukacs Eugene joined the Office of Naval Research and he later became the Head of its Statistics.
  • Lukacs moved again, this time in 1955 to the Catholic University of America where, in 1959, he set up the Statistical Laboratory becoming its director.
  • Lukacs retired in 1972, and went first to Bowling Green where he remained for four years.
  • Other topics to which Lukacs made major contributions include characterisations of distributions, stability of characterisation results and functional equations.
  • Lukacs's hobbies and interests included stamp and coin collecting, hiking, bird watching, photography and, as stated above, travelling.
  • We shall miss Eugene greatly, not only for his contributions to probability and statistics but also as a colleague, a friend and as a human being of integrity.
  • Lukacs undertook many editorial duties.

Born 14 August 1906, Szombathely, Hungary. Died 21 December 1987, Washington D.C., USA.

View full biography at MacTutor