Frank Albert Benford, Jr., (1883 Johnstown, Pennsylvania – December 4, 1948) was an American electrical engineer and physicist best known for rediscovering and generalizing Benford's Law, a statistical statement about the occurrence of digits in lists of data.
Benford is also known for having devised, in 1937, an instrument for measuring the refractive index of glass. An expert in optical measurements, he published 109 papers in the fields of optics and mathematics and was granted 20 patents on optical devices.
His date of birth is given variously as May 29 or July 10, 1883. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1910, Benford worked for General Electric, first in the Illuminating Engineering Laboratory for 18 years, then the Research Laboratory for 20 years until retiring in July 1948. He died suddenly at his home on December 4, 1948.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Benford, Frank Albert, Junior |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 29 May 1883 |
| Place of birth | Johnstown, Pennsylvania |
| Date of death | 4 December 1948 |
| Place of death | Schenectady, New York |
Famous quotes containing the word frank:
“Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.”
—Donn Pierce, U.S. screenwriter, Frank R. Pierson, and Stuart Rosenberg. Luke Jackson (Paul Newman)