MATHEMATICAL RELIABILITY THEORY: FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE PRESENT TIME

It is argued that the mathematical theory of reliability as a separate discipline began in 1961 with the publication ofMulti-component systems and their structures and their reliability by Birnbaum, Esary and Saunders. Prior to this time, mathematicians were just applying standard mathematical techniques such as queueing theory, statistics and probability to engineering reliability problems. We will describe how the 1965 book Mathematical Theory of Reliability came to be written. Some personal historical perspectives will follow on probabilistic concepts of aging. Finally, we will discuss more recent work on Schur functions and Bayesian implications for reliability research.

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