Bill Text: IL HR0094 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Honors Dr. David Blackwell for his many professional and academic achievements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2009-02-20 - Resolution Adopted [HR0094 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2009-HR0094-Introduced.html
|
|||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives are pleased to honor Dr. David Blackwell for | ||||||
4 | his many professional and academic achievements; and
| ||||||
5 | WHEREAS, Dr. David Blackwell was born on April 24, 1919 in | ||||||
6 | Centralia, where he attended the local public schools; in 1935, | ||||||
7 | at the age of sixteen, he entered the University of Illinois in | ||||||
8 | Champaign-Urbana, where he received his bachelor's degree in | ||||||
9 | 1938, his master's degree in 1939, and his doctorate in 1941, | ||||||
10 | all in mathematics; and
| ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, After a post doctoral fellowship at Princeton and | ||||||
12 | instructorships at Southern University and Clark College, Dr. | ||||||
13 | David Blackwell joined the faculty of Howard University in 1944 | ||||||
14 | as an instructor, achieving the ranks of Full Professor and | ||||||
15 | Chairman in three years; and
| ||||||
16 | WHEREAS, During his time at Howard University, Dr. David | ||||||
17 | Blackwell distinguished himself as an excellent teacher, an | ||||||
18 | able leader (as department chair from 1947 to 1954), and a very | ||||||
19 | productive scholar, publishing more than twenty papers during | ||||||
20 | his tenure; while in Washington, he met M. A. Girschick of the | ||||||
21 | Department of Agriculture, who was a collaborator in many | ||||||
22 | works, including their 1954 book, Theory of Games and |
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | Statistical Decisions, which became a classic in their field; | ||||||
2 | when he joined the faculty at Berkeley, he chaired the | ||||||
3 | Department of Statistics from 1957 to 1961 and published an | ||||||
4 | additional 50-plus papers; and
| ||||||
5 | WHEREAS, Dr. David Blackwell's professional activities as | ||||||
6 | a scholar have brought him widespread recognition and acclaim; | ||||||
7 | he has received honorary Doctorate of Science degrees from | ||||||
8 | Harvard University, Yale University, the University of | ||||||
9 | Illinois, Howard University, Carnegie-Mellon University, the | ||||||
10 | University of Southern California, Michigan State University, | ||||||
11 | Syracuse University, Southern Illinois University, the | ||||||
12 | University of Warwick, the National University of Lesotho, and | ||||||
13 | Amherst College; he has been selected to be president of the | ||||||
14 | Institute of Mathematics Statistics, the International | ||||||
15 | Association for Statistics in Physical Sciences, and the | ||||||
16 | Bernoulli Society; he has served as Vice President of the | ||||||
17 | International Statistical Institute, the American Statistical | ||||||
18 | Association, and the American Mathematical Society; two of the | ||||||
19 | highest honors bestowed upon him, however, have been his | ||||||
20 | election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1965, in which | ||||||
21 | he is the first and only African-American mathematician to be | ||||||
22 | elected, and his election to the American Academy of Arts and | ||||||
23 | Sciences; and
| ||||||
24 | WHEREAS, Dr. David Blackwell served as President of the |
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 1955; he is an Honorary | ||||||
2 | Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society; in 1979, he won the | ||||||
3 | von Neumann Theory Prize from the Operations Research Society | ||||||
4 | of America; and
| ||||||
5 | WHEREAS, Dr. David Blackwell has mentored and supervised | ||||||
6 | the dissertations and research of many students in the fields | ||||||
7 | of statistics and mathematics and is an inspiration to many | ||||||
8 | minorities in scientific and analytical fields; he is generally | ||||||
9 | acknowledged by the scientific community to be one of the | ||||||
10 | finest statisticians and mathematicians that America has | ||||||
11 | produced; therefore, be it
| ||||||
12 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
13 | NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
14 | honor Dr. David Blackwell for his many professional and | ||||||
15 | academic achievements and wish him continued success in his | ||||||
16 | future work; and be it further
| ||||||
17 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
18 | presented to Dr. David Blackwell as a symbol of our esteem and | ||||||
19 | respect.
|