B. Roy Frieden
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B. Roy Frieden is a mathematical physicist living in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. He is an Emeritus Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. His main work is the use of Fisher information for purposes of deriving and developing physical theories. These theories take the form of known differential equations or probability distribution functions. (Examples are the Schrödinger wave equation of quantum mechanics, and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of statistical mechanics.)
The derivations utilize the mathematical principle of extreme physical information (EPI). This principle builds on the well known idea that the observation of a "source" phenomenon is never completely accurate. That is, information is inevitably lost in transit from source to observation. Furthermore, the random errors that creep in are presumed to define the distribution function of the source phenomenon. That is, "the physics lies in the fluctuations." Finally, the information loss may be shown to be an extreme value. Thus, if the observed level of Fisher information in the data has value I, and the level of Fisher information that existed at the source has value J, the EPI principle states that I − J = extremum. The extremum is a minimum in most problems, meaning that there is a tendency for any observation to faithfully match up with its source. The physical and mathematical correctness of Frieden's ideas have been characterized as highly dubious by several knowledgeable observers; see, for example, Raymond F. Streater's Lost Causes in Theoretical Physics: Physics from Fisher Information, and Cosma Shalizi's review of Physics from Fisher Information.
The EPI principle is a variational principle that has been used to derive most fundamental laws of physics, as well as laws of biology, cancer growth, chemistry, and economics. These include new laws and concepts as well. In this way, Fisher information, and in particular its loss I − J during observation, provides a bridge for deriving laws of nature in general.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Frieden, B. Roy (2004). Science from Fisher Information: A Unification. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00911-1.
- Frieden, B.R. and Gatenby, R.A., eds. (2006). Exploratory Data Analysis Using Fisher Information. Springer-Verlag, in press
[edit] External links
- Roy Frieden Professor Emeritus of Optical Sciences.
- Frieden, B. Roy, "Fisher Information, a New Paradigm for Science: Introduction, Uncertainty principles, Wave equations, Ideas of Escher, Kant, Plato and Wheeler." This essay is continually revised.
- Any old maths: Roy Frieden's project to unify physics based on Fisher information from New Scientist issue 2174, 20 February 1999, p.53
