Kiyosi Itô

Kiyosi Itô (伊藤 清, Itō Kiyoshi, Japanese pronunciation:

[itoː kiꜜjoɕi], 7 September 1915 – 10 November 2008) Kiyosi Itô
was a Japanese mathematician who made fundamental
contributions to probability theory, in particular, the
theory of stochastic processes. He invented the concept
of stochastic integral and stochastic differential
equation, and is known as the founder of so-called Itô
calculus. He also pioneered the world connections
between stochastic calculus and differential geometry,
known as stochastic differential geometry. He was
invited for the International Congress of
Mathematicians in Stockholm in 1962.[1] So much
were Itô's results useful to financial mathematics that
he was sometimes called "the most famous Japanese in
Wall Street".[2]

Itô was a member of the faculty at University of Kyoto

Itô at Cornell University, 1970
for most of his career and eventually became the
director of their Research Institute for Mathematical Born September 7, 1915
Sciences. But he also spent multi-year stints at several Hokusei, Mie, Empire of
foreign institutions, the longest of which took place at Japan
Cornell University. Died November 10, 2008
(aged 93)
Kyoto, Japan
Overview Alma mater University of Tokyo
Known for Itô calculus
Awards Asahi Prize (1977)
Wolf Prize (1987)
Kyoto Prize (1998)
Gauss Prize (2006)
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics
Itô (right) with Issei Shiraishi in Institutions University of Kyoto
1935. Shiraishi later became a Cornell University
mathematician.
Doctoral advisor Shokichi Iyanaga
Doctoral Shinzo Watanabe
Itô pioneered the theory of stochastic integration and
students
stochastic differential equations, now known as Itô
calculus. Its basic concept is the Itô integral, and
among the most important results is a change of variable formula known as Itô's lemma (also known as
the Itô formula). Itô also made contributions to the study of diffusion processes on manifolds, known as
stochastic differential geometry.

Itô calculus is a method used in the mathematical study of random events and is applied in various fields,
and is perhaps best known for its use in mathematical finance. In particular, the Itô's lemma's best known
application is in the derivation of the Black–Scholes equation for option values.[2]

Itô's methods are also used in other fields, including biology and physics.[2] His results have been applied
to population models, white noise, chemical reactions, and quantum physics, in addition to uses in
various mathematical subjects such as differential geometry, partial differential equations, complex
analysis, and harmonic analysis and potential theory.[3]

Fellow mathematician Daniel W. Stroock noted that "People all over realized that what Ito had done
explained things that were unexplainable before."[4] Economist Robert C. Merton stated that Itô's work
had provided him "a very useful tool" in his own prize-winning work.[4]

Although the standard Hepburn romanization of his name is Kiyoshi Itō, he used the spelling Kiyosi Itô
(Kunrei-shiki romanization). The alternative spellings Itoh and Ito are also sometimes seen in the Western
world.

Itô was married with three daughters.[4]

Biography
Itô was born on 7 September 1915 in a farming area located west of Nagoya,
Japan,[4] that being the town of Hokusei-cho in Mie Prefecture.[5] He excelled in
his studies as a youth.[4] Admitted to the Imperial University of Tokyo, he
studied mathematics and became interested in the underdeveloped field of
probability theory, graduating from there in 1938,[5] with his degree in
mathematics being granted by the university's Faculty of Science.[6]

From 1939 to 1943 he worked as a

Statistical Officer with the Statistics
Kiyosi Itô (right) with Bureau of the Cabinet Secretariat,[6]
Seizō Itō in 1937. There he was given rein by management
Seizō is Kiyosi's to continue his research.[5] His
brother. Seizō later breakthrough paper, "On Stochastic
became a
Processes", appeared in 1942.[7] In 1943,
mathematician.
he was appointed an assistant professor at
Nagoya Imperial University,[5] where he Itô at the Cabinet Statistics Bureau
benefited from discussions with the mathematicians Kōsaku in 1940
Yosida and Shizuo Kakutani.[8] From investigations done during
this period he published a series of articles in which he defined the
stochastic integral and laid the foundations of the Itō calculus. Meanwhile, he received his Doctor of
Science degree from the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1945.[6]
These works were published despite the difficulties of life in Japan during World War II, including
problems accessing libraries and especially the loss of contact with Western mathematicians and the lack
of awareness of results from them.[3][5] For instance, the only other Japanese mathematician actively
interested in Itô's work during the war, Gisiro Maruyama, read a mimeographed copy of a paper while in
a military camp.[8] Scholarly activity during the Occupation of Japan had its difficulties; in one case,
paper shortages were such that a lengthy Itô article could not be published in a Japanese journal and he
had to arrange for an American journal to publish it instead.[8] Ito later referred to his time at Nagoya as
having been during "the dark age of World War II and its aftermath."[8]

After this period he continued to develop his ideas on stochastic analysis with
many important papers on the topic. In 1952, he became a professor at the
University of Kyoto.[2] His most well-known text, Probability Theory, appeared
in 1953.[7] Itô remained affiliated with Kyoto until his retirement in 1979. [5]
However, beginning in the 1950s, Itô spent long periods of time away from
Japan.[4] He was at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1954 to 1956 while on
a Fulbright fellowship;[6] while there he worked closely with William Feller and
Henry McKean who were at nearby Princeton University.[8] He was a professor
at Stanford University from 1961 to 1964 and a professor at Aarhus University
from 1966 to 1969.[6]
Itô, 1954
Then in 1969 Itô arrived at Cornell University, where he was a professor of
mathematics for six years until 1975.[7] This was his longest stint outside
Japan.[6] Among the courses he taught at Cornell was one in Higher Calculus.[9]

Itô wrote not only in Japanese but also in Chinese, German, French and English.[4] However, his ability
to converse in foreign languages was a different matter, and by his own admission his accent made him
largely incomprehensible to Americans.[4]

When Itô left Cornell and returned to the University of Kyoto, he served as director of their Research
Institute for Mathematical Sciences.[2] After his retirement, he became professor emeritus at Kyoto
University.[2] He also had a post-retirement position as a professor at the private Gakushuin University
for several years,[6] a common practice among higher-ranking Japanese academics.[5]

Itô was recipient of the Wolf Prize and the Kyoto Prize.[4] He was a member
of the Japan Academy,[6] and also a foreign member of the Académie des
sciences in France and the National Academy of Sciences in the United
States. [4]

In his later years, Itô struggled with poor health.[5] Itô was awarded the
inaugural Gauss Prize in 2006 by the International Mathematical Union for
his lifetime achievements.[2] As he due to his health was unable to travel to
Madrid, his youngest daughter, Junko Ito, received the Gauss Prize from
King Juan Carlos I on his behalf.[10] Later, IMU President Sir John Macleod
Ball personally presented the medal to Itô at a special ceremony held in Itô c. 1991
Kyoto.[11] In October 2008, Itô was honored with Japan's Order of Culture,
and an awards ceremony for the Order of Culture was held at the Imperial
Palace.[12]
Itô died on November 10, 2008, in Kyoto, Japan, at age 93, of respiratory failure .[2]

Selected publications
Kiyosi Itô (1940). "On the Probability Distribution on a Compact Group" (https://www.jstage.j
st.go.jp/article/ppmsj1919/22/12/22_12_977/_article/). Proceedings of the Physico-
Mathematical Society of Japan. 3rd Series. 22 (12): 977–998.

Kiyosi Ito (1942). "Differential equations determining a Markoff process" (http://www.math.sc

i.osaka-u.ac.jp/shijodanwakai/pdf/1077.pdf) (PDF). Zenkoku Sizyo Sugaku Danwakai-si (J.
Pan-Japan Math. Coll.) (1077): 1352–1400.

Kiyosi Itô (1944). "Stochastic integral" (https://doi.org/10.3792%2Fpia%2F1195572786).

Proceedings of the Imperial Academy. 20 (8): 519–524. doi:10.3792/pia/1195572786 (http
s://doi.org/10.3792%2Fpia%2F1195572786).

Kiyosi Itô (1946). "On a stochastic integral equation" (https://doi.org/10.3792%2Fpja%2F119

5572371). Proceedings of the Japan Academy. 22 (2): 32–35. doi:10.3792/pja/1195572371
(https://doi.org/10.3792%2Fpja%2F1195572371).

Kiyosi Itô (1950). "Stochastic differential equations in a differentiable manifold" (http://project

euclid.org/euclid.nmj/1118764702). Nagoya Mathematical Journal. 1: 35–47.
doi:10.1017/S0027763000022819 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0027763000022819).
Kiyosi Itô (1951). "On a formula concerning stochastic differentials" (http://projecteuclid.org/e
uclid.nmj/1118799221). Nagoya Mathematical Journal. 3: 55–65.
doi:10.1017/S0027763000012216 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0027763000012216).

Kiyosi Itô and Henry McKean (1974). Diffusion Processes and Their Sample Paths. Berlin:
Springer Verlag. ISBN 978-3-540-60629-1.

Kiyosi Itô (1984). Foundations of Stochastic Differential Equations in Infinite Dimensional

Spaces (https://archive.org/details/foundationsofsto0000itok). Philadelphia: Society for
Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ISBN 978-0-89871-193-6.

References
1. "Cornellians at the International Congress of Mathematicians" (https://math.cornell.edu/inter
national-congress). Cornell University. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
2. "Renowned math wiz Ito, 93, dies" (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/11/15/national/r
enowned-math-wiz-ito-93-dies/). The Japan Times. Kyodo News. 15 November 2008.
3. Protter, Philip (June–July 2007). "The Work of Kyoshi Itô" (https://www.ams.org/notices/2007
06/tx070600744p.pdf) (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 54 (6): 744–
745.
4. Lohr, Steve (23 November 2008), "Kiyosi Ito, 93, Mathematician Who Described Random
Motion, Dies" (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/business/24ito.html?_r=1), The New
York Times
5. "Professor Kiyosi Itô: mathematician and probability theory expert" (https://www.thetimes.co
m/article/professor-kiyosi-ito-mathematician-and-probability-theory-expert-bgwhnzm7p50).
The Times. London. 20 November 2008.
 6. "Past Directors: Kiyosi Itô(1915-2008)" (https://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kenkyubu/past-dir
ector/ito/ito-kiyosi.html). Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University.
Retrieved 8 January 2009.
7. DiPietro, Louis (17 April 2024). "Celebrating Cornell University luminaries in mathematics
and statistics" (https://as.cornell.edu/news/celebrating-cornell-university-luminaries-mathem
atics-and-statistics). Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences.
8. Itô, Kiyosi (2014) [1987]. "Foreword". In Stroock, D. W.; Varadhan, S. R. S. (eds.). Kiyosi Itô
Selected Papers. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. xiii–xvii. ISBN 978-1461496304.
Subsequently reproduced in Chern, S S; Hirzebruch, F, eds. (2000). Wolf Prize in
Mathematics (https://books.google.com/books?id=cSUSUfvT3PoC&dq=%22as+i+heard+fro
m+him+later%2C+he+read+it+in%22&pg=PA532). Vol. 1. Singapore: World Scientific.
pp. 531–535. ISBN 978-981-02-3945-9.
9. Cornell University Announcements: College of Arts and Sciences, 1974–75. Cornell
University. 1 July 1974. p. 127.
10. "Junko Ito, left, daughter of Japanese mathematician Kiyoshi Ito, receives the Gauss Prize
from Spanish King Juan Carlos I during the opening ceremony of the International Congress
of Mathematicians celebrated in Madrid Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Bernat
Armangue)" (https://www.alamy.com/junko-ito-left-daugther-of-japanese-mathematician-kiyo
shi-ito-receives-the-gauss-prize-from-spanish-king-juan-carlos-i-during-the-opening-ceremo
ny-of-the-international-congress-of-mathematicians-celebrated-in-madrid-tuesday-aug-22-2
006-ap-photobernat-armangue-image541346179.html). Alamy. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
See also "Gauss prize lecture - On Kiyosi Itô's work and its impact" (https://av.tib.eu/media/1
5952). TIB AV-Portal. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
11. "Dr. Kiyoshi Ito receives Gauss Prize" (https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/about/honors/internation
al-awards/gauss-prize). Kyoto University. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
12. "Donald Keene, 7 others win Order of Culture" (https://web.archive.org/web/2008103005021
8/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081029TDY01304.htm). Yomiuri Shimbun. 29
October 2008. Archived from the original (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081029TD
Y01304.htm) on 30 October 2008.

See also
Itô calculus
Itô diffusion
Itô integral
Itô–Nisio theorem
Itô isometry
Itô's lemma
Black–Scholes model

Further reading
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Kiyosi Itô" (https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.u
k/Biographies/Ito.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
Foellmer, Hans (May 2006), On Kiyosi Itô's Work and its Impact (https://www.math.hu-berlin.
de/~foellmer/papers/Gauss_Lecture.pdf) (.PDF), Humboldt University of Berlin
 Kunita, Hiroshi (May 2010), "Itô's stochastic calculus: its surprising power for applications",
Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, 120 (5): 7622–652,
doi:10.1016/j.spa.2010.01.013 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.spa.2010.01.013)

External links
Kiyosi Itô (https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=93772) at the Mathematics Genealogy
Project
Kiyosi Itô(1915-2008) / Eightieth Birthday Lecture RIMS, Kyoto University, September 1995
(http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kenkyubu/past-director/ito/ito-kiyosi.html) at the Research
Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University
Bibliography of Kiyosi Itô (http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kenkyubu/past-director/ito/ito-kiy
osi-bibl.html) at the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University

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