English statistician and mathematician
Not to be confused with
Maurice Kendall
, also a 20th-century English statistician.
David George Kendall
FRS
[1]
(15 January 1918 ? 23 October 2007)
[3]
was an
English
statistician
and
mathematician
, known for his work on probability, statistical shape analysis, ley lines and
queueing theory
. He spent most of his academic life in the
University of Oxford
(1946?1962) and the
University of Cambridge
(1962?1985). He worked with
M. S. Bartlett
during World War II, and visited
Princeton University
after the war.
[4]
Life and career
[
edit
]
David George Kendall was born on 15 January 1918 in
Ripon
,
West Riding of Yorkshire
, and attended
Ripon Grammar School
before attending
Queen's College, Oxford
, graduating in 1939.
[1]
[5]
[6]
He worked on
rocketry
at the
Ministry of Supply
's Projectile Development Establishment during
World War II
, before moving to
Magdalen College
,
Oxford
, in 1946.
In 1962 he was appointed the first
Professor of Mathematical Statistics
in the
Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge
; in which post he remained until his retirement in 1985. He was elected to a professorial fellowship at
Churchill College
, and he was a founding trustee of the
Rollo Davidson Trust
. In 1986, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the
University of Bath
.
[7]
Kendall was an expert in
probability
and data analysis, and pioneered
statistical shape analysis
including the study of
ley lines
. He defined
Kendall's notation
for
queueing theory
.
The
Royal Statistical Society
awarded him the
Guy Medal
in Silver in 1955, followed in 1981 by the Guy Medal in Gold. In 1980 the
London Mathematical Society
awarded Kendall their
Senior Whitehead Prize
, and in 1989 their
De Morgan Medal
.
[8]
He was elected a fellow of the
Royal Society
in 1964.
Kendall also played a key role in founding the
Bernoulli Society
in 1975, and was its initial president.
[9]
He was married to Diana Fletcher from 1952 until his death. They had two sons and four daughters, including
Wilfrid Kendall
, professor in the Department of Statistics at the
University of Warwick
, and journalist
Bridget Kendall
MBE
.
[3]
Selected bibliography
[
edit
]
- Kendall, David G. (1960), "Geometric ergodicity and the theory of queues", in
Arrow, Kenneth J.
;
Karlin, Samuel
;
Suppes, Patrick
(eds.),
Mathematical models in the social sciences, 1959: Proceedings of the first Stanford symposium
, Stanford mathematical studies in the social sciences, IV, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, pp. 176?195,
ISBN
9780804700214
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Kingman, J.
(2009).
"David George Kendall. 15 January 1918 -- 23 October 2007"
.
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
.
55
: 121?138.
doi
:
10.1098/rsbm.2008.0017
.
- ^
David George Kendall
at the
Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^
a
b
"Obituary in the Times"
.
TimesOnline
. Archived from
the original
on 19 May 2009.
- ^
O'Connor, John J.;
Robertson, Edmund F.
,
"David George Kendall"
,
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
,
University of St Andrews
- ^
Grimmett, G.
(2008),
David George Kendall
,
arXiv
:
0810.1091
,
Bibcode
:
2008arXiv0810.1091G
- ^
Bingham, N. H. (1996).
"A conversation with David Kendall"
.
Statistical Science
.
11
(3): 159.
doi
:
10.1214/ss/1032280213
.
- ^
"Honorary Graduates 1989 to present"
.
bath.ac.uk
.
University of Bath
. Archived from
the original
on 19 December 2015
. Retrieved
18 February
2012
.
- ^
London Mathematical Society,
List of Prizewinners
, archived from
the original
on 17 December 2005
, retrieved
8 July
2007
- ^
Bernoulli Society,
Bernoulli Society website
, archived from
the original
on 28 September 2021
, retrieved
1 May
2020
External links
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]
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