| Description |
Branching processes, a term coined in 1947 by A. N. Kolmogorov an N.A. Dmitriev, are stochastic processes that arise when probability; theory is introduced into population mathematics. The early study of branching processes probably began in the early 1800's when I.J. Bienaym'e wrote a paper on simple branching processes as a mathematical model for the probability of extinction of family names. Branching processes remained essentially unknown to the world until 1873 when Francis Galton and the Reverend H. W. Watson rediscovered the branching process (concerning extinction of family names) that was named after them. Though the study of branching processes was neglected until the 1920's and 1930's, the Galton-Watson "Criticality Theorem" was the beginning of the modern theory of branching processes. |
