Full Text of HR0094 96th General Assembly
HR0094 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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 |
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| 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
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| WHEREAS, Dr. David Blackwell served as President of the |
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 18 |
| presented to Dr. David Blackwell as a symbol of our esteem and | 19 |
| respect.
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