Ulam did not invent statistical sampling. This had been employed to solve quantitative problems before,[3] with physical processes such as dice tosses or card draws being used to generate realizations of samples. Ulam’s contribution was to recognize the potential for the newly invented electronic computer to automate such sampling. Working with John von Neumann and Nicholas Metropolis, he developed algorithms for computer implementations, as well as exploring means of transforming nonrandom problems into random forms that would facilitate their solution via statistical sampling.[4] [5] This work transformed statistical sampling from a mathematical curiosity to a formal methodology applicable to a wide variety of problems. It was Metropolis who named the new methodology after the casinos of Monte Carlo. Ulam and Metropolis published the first paper on the Monte Carlo method in 1949.[6]