钱敏先生1927年3月出生于江苏无锡。1944年至1946年就读于成都金陵大学，1946年至1949年就读于清华大学，1949年毕业后留校担任助教。1950年至1951年到北京大学学习，1951年至1952年任燕京大学助教，1952年入职北京大学，先后担任讲师、副教授、教授、博士生导师，1997年6月退休。2019年逝世。
钱敏先生在教书育人方面倾注了大量心血，在科研方面探索不断，与人共同提出马氏过程的环流理论及熵产生的概率定义。2013年荣获中国数学会第十一届华罗庚数学奖。
本书收录钱敏先生代表性的学术论文若干，选目见附件。

1.The decomposition into a detailed balance part and a circulation part of an irreversible stationary markov chain
2.椭圆型算子的扩张及C半群
3.马尔可夫半群的不变测度与遍历性
4.Markov chain as a model of hill's theory on circulation
5.Circulation distribution of a markov chain—cycle skipping rate and decomposition according to probability meaning
6.Circulation for recurrent markov chains
7.非自治系统的不变圈(解流形)分支
8.Circulations of markov chains with continuous time and the probability interpretation of some determinants
9.Minimal coupled diffusion process
10.Global behavior in the dynamical equation of J-J type
11.Generalized weyl transformation
12.Reversible diffusion process and Einstein relation
13.Coherent states, inverse mapping formula for Weyl transformations and application to equations of KdV type
14.A new type of Hopf algebra which is neither commutative nor cocommutative
15.Gauge invariant quantization on Riemannian manifolds
16.Boson realizations of quantum algebras and some physical spaces with quantum algebra symmetry
17.Ruelle's inequality for the entropy of diffusion processes
18.Bosonic Fock representations of the affine-Virasoro algebra
19.Ergodic theory for axiom A endomorphisms
20.The entropy production of diffusion processes on manifolds and its circulation decompositions
21.Entropy production and information gain in axiom a systems
22.Unbounded one-dimensional global attractor for the damped sine-gordon equation
23.SRB measures and Pesin's entropy formula for endomorphisms
24.Entropy formula of Pesin type for one-sided stationary random maps
25.The duality theory of a finite dimensional discrete quantum group
26.Non-equilibrium of a general stochastic system of coupled oscillators. entropy production rate and rotation numbers
27.A simple discrete model of brownian motors time-periodic markov chains
28.Generalized Jarzynski's Equality in Inhomogeneous Markov Chains
29.Holomorphic Harmonic Analysis on Complex Reductive Groups
30.Synchronized Dynamics and Non-Equilibrium Steady States in a Stochastic Yeast Cell-cycle Network
31.Circular Stochastic Fluctuations in SIS Epidemics with Heterogeneous Contacts among Sub-populations
32.Stochastic Dynamics of Electrical Membrane with Voltage-Dependention Channel Fluctuations
钱敏先生论著