Edward Thorp

Edward Thorp is a mathematician whose work in probability theory led first to profitable card counting strategies in blackjack (described in his 1962 book "Beat the Dealer"), and then to the financial markets. He co-founded Princeton Newport Partners in 1969, one of the earliest quantitative hedge funds, which ran convertible bond arbitrage and statistical arbitrage strategies generating exceptional risk-adjusted returns over 18 years. He independently derived the Black-Scholes formula before Black and Scholes published it. His book "Beat the Market" (1967) described his approach to warrant and options trading. He is widely credited as one of the founders of the quantitative investment industry and his memoir "A Man for All Markets" documents his remarkable intellectual journey. His life's work stands as a demonstration that rigorous probabilistic thinking, applied consistently and with disciplined risk management, can generate edge in both games and markets.