position in the community as a minister, he also had the reputation of being "a good mathematician." (J.J. Oconnor and E.F. Robertson) In fact, he gained prominence in the field of mathematics by writing a pamphlet defending Sir Isaac Newton from critics of his work on fluxions. As result of the pamphlet, he was nominated and subsequently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1742. The organization known as the Royal Society was a scholarly group formed to promote the natural sciences, including mathematics and all applied aspects such as engineering, and medicine. The society was founded in 1660 during the reign of King Charles II, and was incorporated by royal charter in 1662. The society is self-governed by a president and council, whose statutory responsibilities include making appointments to research councils, and it has representatives in the governing bodies of many organizations. The people that nominated Bayes described him as, "a gentleman of known merit, well skilled in Geometry and all parts of Mathematical and philosophical Learning (Norland, 2000 pg. 2)". Bayes retired from the ministry in 1752 and died nine years later. CHAPTER II DEVELOPMENT OF BAYES THEOREMAfter Bayes death in 1761, his family was left with most of his property, but he also left a small bequest to Richard Price, another minister and amateur mathematician. Among Bayes' papers, Price found two essays on mathematical subjects. He was so impressed with them that he sent them to the Royal Society hoping they would be published. Bayes set out his theory of probability in one of the essay's titled towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances it was so well received by the Royal Society, that it was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London in 1764. Bayes essay would shape the nature of statistics. Bayes' theory stated "Given the number of times in which an unknown event has happened and failed: Requ...
