Metropolis–Hastings algorithm: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:32, 16 February 2021

Revision as of 13:36, 16 February 2021

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The algorithm was named after [[Nicholas Metropolis]], who authored the 1953 article ''[[Equation of State Calculations by Fast Computing Machines]]'' together with [[Arianna W. Rosenbluth]], [[Marshall Rosenbluth]], [[Augusta H. Teller]] and [[Edward Teller]]. This article proposed the algorithm for the case of symmetrical proposal distributions, and [[W. K. Hastings]] extended it to the more general case in 1970.<ref name=Hastings/>

Some controversy exists with regard to credit for development of the algorithm. Metropolis, who was familiar with the computational aspects of the method, had coined the term "Monte Carlo" in an earlier article with [[Stanislav Ulam]], who was familiar with the computational aspects of the method, and led the group in the Theoretical Division that designed and built the [[MANIAC I]] computer used in the experiments in 1952. However, prior to 2003, there was no detailed account of the algorithm's development. Then, shortly before his death, [[Marshall Rosenbluth]] attended a 2003 conference at LANL marking the 50th anniversary of the 1953 publication. At this conference, Rosenbluth described the algorithm and its development in a presentation titled "Genesis of the Monte Carlo Algorithm for Statistical Mechanics".<ref name=Rosenbluth/> Further historical clarification is made by Gubernatis in a 2005 journal article<ref name=Gubernatis/> recounting the 50th anniversary conference. Rosenbluth makes it clear that he and his wife Arianna did the work, and that Metropolis played no role in the development other than providing computer time.

This contradicts an account by Edward Teller, who states in his memoirs that the five authors of the 1953 article worked together for "days (and nights)".<ref name=Teller/> In contrast, the detailed account by Rosenbluth credits Teller with a crucial but early suggestion to "take advantage of statistical mechanics and take ensemble averages instead of following detailed kinematics". This, says Rosenbluth, started him thinking about the generalized Monte Carlo approach – a topic which he says he had discussed often with [[John von Neumann|Von Neumann]]. Arianna Rosenbluth recounted (to Gubernatis in 2003) that Augusta Teller started the computer work, but that Arianna herself took it over and wrote the code from scratch. In an oral history recorded shortly before his death,<ref name=Barth/> Rosenbluth again credits Teller with posing the original problem, himself with solving it, and Arianna with programming the computer. In terms of reputation, there is little reason to question Rosenbluth's account. In a biographical memoir of Rosenbluth, [[Freeman Dyson]] writes:<ref name=Dyson/>