The sequential estimation of the states of a process described by a set of nonlinear hyperbolic or parabolic partial differential equations subject to both stochastic input disturbances and measurement errors is considered. A functional partial differential equation of Hamilton-Jacobi type is derived for the minimum least square estimate error, which is solved approximately in the region of the optimal estimate by a second-order expansion. The optimal estimate is given as the solution of an initial value problem. In the linear case the estimator equations represent analogs of the well-known Kalman filter equations for lumped parameter systems. The determination of the state of a process governed by one-dimensional heat equation from noisy measurements is considered. © 1969.