Monroe David Donsker was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 mathematician and a professor of mathematics at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 (NYU). His research interest was in the field of probability theory

Probability theory

Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single...

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Donsker was born in Burlington, Iowa. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 in 1948. He became a professor at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences is an independent division of New York University under the Faculty of Arts & Science that serves as a center for research and advanced training in computer science and mathematics...

 in 1962, about a year before his frequent co-author S.R.S. Varadhan started working there. Before joining NYU, Donsker taught at Cornell and the University of Minnesota.

Donsker also served as chair of the Board of Foreign Scholarships, a U.S. government panel responsible for student exchange program

Student exchange program

A student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...

s, after being appointed by presidents Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

 and Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

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