Origins & Early Life

William Forsyth Sharpe (born June 16, 1934) is an American economist. He is the STANCO 25 Professor of Finance, Emeritus at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Sharpe was one of the originators of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). He created the Sharpe ratio for risk-adjusted investment performance analysis, and he contributed to the development of the binomial method for the valuation of options, the gradient method for asset allocation optimization, and returns-based style analysis for evaluating the style and performance of investment funds.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Sharpe's work on the capital asset pricing model established a mathematical framework for evaluating the relationship between risk and return. The model identifies that the expected return of an asset is equal to the risk-free rate plus a premium based on the asset's systematic risk, or beta. The standard CAPM equation is: E ( R i ) = R f +...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Alan Arkin — Contemporary (Born in 1934) (1934): Esteemed American actor, filmmaker, and musician with a seven-decade career.
• Bill Russell — Contemporary (Born in 1934) (1934): Center for the Boston Celtics, a 12-time champion and basketball legend.
• Brigitte Bardot — Contemporary (Born in 1934) (1934): Iconic French actress, singer, and passionate animal rights activist.
• BabyTron — Shared historical date (06-16 · Born) (2000): American rapper known for his distinctive style and rise in the Detroit hip hop scene.
• Barbara McClintock — Shared historical date (06-16 · Born) (1902): Pioneering cytogeneticist known for discovering maize transposons and genetic recombination.
• Carl Sagan — Historical peer (Born in 1934) (1934): Pioneering astronomer and celebrated science communicator of the cosmos.
• Carlo Rubbia — Historical peer (Born in 1934) (1934): Pioneering particle physicist known for the discovery of W and Z bosons at CERN.
• A. J. P. Taylor — Historical peer (Died in 1990) (1990): Influential English historian specializing in 19th and 20th-century European diplomacy.
• Aaron Copland — Historical peer (Died in 1990) (1990): Pioneering American composer, conductor, and critic, known as the "Dean of American Music".
• Daniel Ellsberg — Shared historical date (06-16 · Died) (2023): Whistleblower who released the Pentagon Papers, exposing Vietnam War secrets.
• 1934 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1934
• June 16 (06-16) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on June 16