David Blackwell

David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919 – July 8, 2010) was an American statistician and mathematician known for his contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and statistics. He is renowned for co-developing the Rao-Blackwell theorem. Blackwell achieved several historic milestones, including being the first African American to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences and the seventh African American to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. He served as a full professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and authored numerous influential textbooks on subjects like Bayesian statistics. Throughout his career, Blackwell published over 90 papers and books. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was posthumously awarded the National Medal of Science by President Obama in 2012.