Thomas Bayes

THOMAS Bayes was an Edinburgh University graduate who studied logic and theology in the Capital from 1719 to 1722.

He was the son of a London-based Presbyterian minister, Joshua Bayes, and it is thought he was born in Hertfordshire.

After graduating, Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a Presbyterian minister based in Kent, where he remained until he died.

After his death in 1761, his friend Richard Price discovered many of his mathematical papers, including An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances, which went on to be published in 1763 and contained what has become known as Bayes’ Theorem.