Leonard E Baum

Leonard Esau Baum (August 23, 1931 – August 14, 2017) was an American mathematician, known for the Baum–Welch algorithm. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 1953, and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard in 1958, with a dissertation entitled Derivations in Commutative Semi-Simple Banach Algebras. At the time he wrote his work with Welch, he was working for the Institute for Defense Analyses in Princeton, New Jersey. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Baum used mathematical models for currency trading, working with Monemetrics, a predecessor of hedge fund management company Renaissance Technologies.