Emil J. Gumbel’s formulas are fundamental for extreme value theory. This statistical discipline describes extreme incidents, such as floods or storms. Little is known, however, that he was also a pioneer of modern data journalism, unveiling the patterns of political murder in the Weimar Republic. Professor Matthias Scherer and his team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) now intend to fill in the gaps in what the world knows about Gumbel.
Gumbel, who later became famous for his applications in extreme value theory, was the firstborn son of a family of bankers in the Munich district of Lehel. Already as a young man, he utilized his statistical methods to counter militarism and the reactionary justice system. ...
