J. Galambos - Böcker

"Et moi, ..., si j'avait su comment en revenir, je One service mathematics bas rendered the human race. It bas put common sense back n'y serais point all~.' where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next to lu1esVeme the dusty canister labelled 'discarded nonsense'~ Eric T. Bell 1be series is divergent; therefore we may be able to do something with it O. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and nonlineari- ties abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sci- ences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One ser- vice topology has rendered mathematical physics ...'; 'One service logic has rendered computer science ...'; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics ...'. All arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d 'etre of this series.

The contributions in this volume represent a selection of the papers presented at the Conference on Extreme Value Theory and Applications held in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA in 1993. Recent rapid advancement in the theory of extremes, in the statistical inference of extreme-related problems and the ever-increasing acceptance of the theory in applications brought together experts in the fields of model-building statistics, engineering and business, whose presentations on these matters are published in this volume. A variety of engineering applications are covered: strength due to fatigue failure; bundle strength of fibre; longest living humans; concomitants of extremes, such as characteristics of offspring of the present generation; long-run asset risk; reinsurance; high winds; and other applications. The theoreticians address model-building and the newest results of statistical inference, including Bayesian methods. This volume should be of interest to statisticians, mathematicians, engineers and business professionals with a basic knowledge of probability and statistics.

It appears that we live in an age of disasters: the mighty Missis­ sippi and Missouri flood millions of acres, earthquakes hit Tokyo and California, airplanes crash due to mechanical failure and the seemingly ever increasing wind speeds make the storms more and more frightening. While all these may seem to be unexpected phenomena to the man on the street, they are actually happening according to well defined rules of science known as extreme value theory. We know that records must be broken in the future, so if a flood design is based on the worst case of the past then we are not really prepared against floods. Materials will fail due to fatigue, so if the body of an aircraft looks fine to the naked eye, it might still suddenly fail if the aircraft has been in operation over an extended period of time. Our theory has by now penetrated the so­ cial sciences, the medical profession, economics and even astronomy. We believe that our field has come of age. In or~er to fully utilize the great progress in the theory of extremes and its ever increasing acceptance in practice, an international conference was organized in which equal weight was given to theory and practice. This book is Volume I of the Proceedings of this conference. In selecting the papers for Volume lour guide was to have authoritative works with a large variety of coverage of both theory and practice.