CHRONOLOGY: History of quantitative analysis

(Reuters) - Some key dates in the history of quantitative analysis:

1952: Harry Markowitz, an economist at the University of Chicago, develops the Modern Portfolio Theory, which holds that diversification can reduce risk.

1964: William Sharpe publishes a paper outlining the Capital Asset Pricing Model, which separates systemic risk, which affects all securities, from asset-specific risk.

1973: Robert Merton publishes paper setting framework for options pricing model, later called "Black Scholes."

1987: Some blame computerized "program trading" for exacerbating the severity and speed of the market's fall during the October 19 crash.

1994: Hedge fund Askin Capital Management loses $420 million (280 million pounds) on bad bets on collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs).

Carnegie-Mellon University launches Master's of Science in Computational Finance, the first of many to combine financial theory and computer engineering.

1997: Merton and Myron Scholes win Nobel Prize in Economics.

1998: Long Term Capital Management, a hedge fund founded by John Merriwether that has Scholes as a partner loses $4.6 billion in derivatives after the Russian financial crisis.