The normal or Gaussian distribution, sometimes vaguely called the bell curve, originates with de Moivre's approximation to the binomial coefficients in 1738. The distribution as its own entity dates to Gauss in 1823.
1823 AD | Gauss | Theory of errors |
1900 AD | Bachelier | Brownian Motion |
1963 AD | Mandlebrot | Cotton prices |
1973 AD | Black, Scholes & Merton | Black-Scholes |
2024 AD | Mason | Minimal SIR model |