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Contact: Justin Harmon 609/258-5732
Date: November 11, 1998
 

Mathematician Diaconis to Lecture "On Coincidences"

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Persi Diaconis, professor of mathematics and statistics at Stanford University, will speak "On Coincidences" at Princeton University on Thursday, November 19, 1998, at 8 p.m. in McCosh 50.

Professor Diaconis is a mathematician and magician, who by vocation and avocation explores the depths of randomness and the reality of coincidences. Honored for his fundamental work in mathematical statistics, he is a former Gibbs lecturer of the American Mathematical Society. He has also been called a "prestidigitator of digits," by Gina Kolata in Science. His diverse interests have led him to write on parapsychology, and to introduce Martin Gardner's mathematical Magic Show.

Diaconis' lecture is sponsored by Princeton University Public Lectures. Visit http://www.princeton.edu/~publect for future lectures. For additional information, call 258-6879 or e-mail publect@princeton.edu.