Richard Von Mises was born on April 19, 1883 in Lemberg, Austria (modern day Lvov, Ukraine). A mathematician of extraordinary range, Von Mises made important contributions in analysis, integral and differential equations, geometry, probability, statistics and numerical analysis. His applied work involved mechanics, hydrodynamics, and aerodynamics
Von Mises lived through both world wars. He was a pilot in World War I and worked on the design of aircraft. To escape Nazi persecution, he left Austria, first going to Turkey in 1933 and later to the United States, where he became professor of applied mathematics and aerodynamics at Harvard University.
In probability, Von Mises is best known for the definition of probability in terms of limiting relative frequency, anticipating the law of large numbers. This definition was an important step in generalizing probability from the simple case of equally likely outcomes, the setting that dates back to Cardano. The modern, axiomatic definition of probability was given by Komogorov.
Von Mises died on July 14, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts.