Persi Diaconis

E39629

human magician mathematician probabilist

Persi Diaconis is an American mathematician and former professional magician renowned for his work on probability, randomness, and the mathematics of card shuffling and magic tricks.

Aliases (1)

Persi Warren Diaconis ×1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	human → magician → mathematician → probabilist →
almaMater	Harvard University →
awardReceived	Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition → MacArthur Fellowship → Rollo Davidson Prize →
countryOfCitizenship	United States of America →
dateOfBirth	1945-01-31 →
doctoralAdvisor	Fred Mosteller →
educatedBy	Fred Mosteller →
employer	Stanford University →
fieldOfWork	combinatorics → mathematics of card shuffling → mathematics of magic tricks → mathematics of randomness → probability theory → statistics →
hasNotableStudent	Jason Fulman → Susan Holmes →
hasResearchInterest	applications of probability to card games → coin tossing → mathematics of illusions → random number generation → randomness in everyday life →
knownFor	analysis of card shuffling → applications of group theory to probability → mathematical analysis of magic tricks → research on Markov chains → work on randomness →
languageSpoken	English →
memberOf	American Academy of Arts and Sciences → National Academy of Sciences →
name	Persi Warren Diaconis →
notableConcept	seven shuffles to randomize a deck of cards →
notableWork	mathematical analysis of riffle shuffles → research on mixing times of Markov chains → theory of random walks on groups → work on Bayesian statistics →
occupation	magician → mathematician → statistician → university professor →
performedAs	professional magician →
placeOfBirth	New York City →
spouse	Susan Holmes →
workInstitution	Stanford University Department of Mathematics → Stanford University Department of Statistics →

Referenced by (3)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Martin Gardner →	influenced
Persi Diaconis ("Persi Warren Diaconis") →	name
Levi L. Conant Prize →	notableRecipient