Edward Thorp was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 14 August 1932.
The American professor is also a blackjack player and a hedge fund manager.
An invention he is most well known for was his wearable device that exposed mathematical advantages at the Blackjack table. Furthermore, he showed that a player could use card counting techniques to remove the house advantage from blackjack.
Early Childhood
Thorp earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1958. During 1959 and 1961, he was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The New Mexico State University employed him as a mathematics professor from 1961 to 1965. He then became Professor of Maths and Finance at the University of California between 1965 and 1982.
Thorp used an old IBM computer here to devise his theories on blackjack.
The Game of Blackjack
During his experiments at Lake Tahoe, Reno, and Las Vegas, Thorp tried out his blackjack theories. In the first week, he won $11 000. In addition, he organized a Baccarat team that was also successful.
He also, in collaboration with Claude Shannon at MIT, developed a computer one could wear on their belt. Both Thorp and Shannon used it while playing Blackjack and Roulette in various casinos.
Books on Gambling
Thorp also wrote the book Beat the Dealer in 1966, which sold over 700,000 copies. The book made it to the New York Times bestseller list. In 1967 he published a book titled ” Beat the Market ” that was also very successful.
What is he doing now?
Thorp ran his own hedge fund for 30 years. The firm, Princeton Newport Partners, was a successful hedge fund before it was disbanded. Thorp left the gambling world, but he is still active in the trading world, and at the age of 87, he is worth $800 billion.