When did Bayesian inference become "Bayesian"?

2006/03/01 by Stephen E. Fienberg · 5 citations
Arts and Humanities · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Mathematics · #Philosophy and History of Science #Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies #Probability and Statistical Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.1214/06-ba101

openalex publication_date 2006/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01

Abstract

While Bayes' theorem has a 250-year history, and the method of inverse probability that flowed from it dominated statistical thinking into the twentieth century, the adjective "Bayesian" was not part of the statistical lexicon until relatively recently. This paper provides an overview of key Bayesian developments, beginning with Bayes' posthumously published 1763 paper and continuing up through approximately 1970, including the period of time when "Bayesian" emerged as the label of choice for those who advocated Bayesian methods.

Citations

• Statistical Decision Functions
• Videovigilancia de altura
• Equation of State Calculations by Fast Computing Machines
• Stein's Estimation Rule and its Competitors—An Empirical Bayes Approach
• The Probable Error of a Mean
• Thomas Bayes's Bayesian Inference

Cited by

• Niche Conservatism: Integrating Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation Biology
• The P–T Probability Framework for Semantic Communication, Falsification, Confirmation, and Bayesian Reasoning
• Harold Jeffreys’s Theory of Probability Revisited
• Bayesian probability [wikipedia]
• Foundations of statistics [wikipedia]
• Inverse probability [wikipedia]