Distribution	Year Identified	Link to Wikipedia	Original Use/Field	Mathematical Form	Typical Applications
Normal Distribution	1733	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution	Astronomy and measurement errors	Bell curve	Biological, physical, social sciences
Binomial Distribution	1718	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_distribution	Probability theory	Discrete probability distribution	Genetics, coin flips
Poisson Distribution	1837	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson_distribution	Modeling rare events	Discrete, counts	Ecology, particle physics
Exponential Distribution	1934	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_distribution	Survival analysis and queueing theory	Continuous, time between events	Reliability, lifespans
Uniform Distribution	mid-1900s	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_distribution_(continuous)	Random number generation	Constant probability	Random events
Geometric Distribution	1713	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_distribution	Modeling binary outcomes	Discrete, counts until success	Foraging success, trials
Beta Distribution	1800s	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_distribution	Modeling probabilities and proportions	Continuous on [0,1]	Population genetics
Gamma Distribution	1838	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_distribution	Waiting times and lifetimes	Generalized exponential distribution	Earthquakes, queuing theory
Log-Normal Distribution	1879	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log-normal_distribution	Modeling multiplicative processes	Skewed to the right	Organism sizes, wealth distribution
Cauchy Distribution	1853	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchy_distribution	Resonance and signal processing	Heavy-tailed, undefined mean/variance	Signal processing, physics