John Kingman
Encyclopedia
Sir John Frank Charles Kingman, born on 28 August 1939 in Beckenham
, Kent
, is a British
mathematician
.
He was N. M. Rothschild and Sons
Professor
of Mathematical Sciences
and Director of the Isaac Newton Institute
at the University of Cambridge
from 2001 until 2006, when he was succeeded by Sir David Wallace
. He is famous for developing the mathematics of the coalescent
, a theoretical model of inheritance, which is fundamental to modern population genetics.
The grandson of a coal miner
, he grew up in London, eventually being awarded a scholarship to read mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge
in 1956. On graduating in 1960, he began work on his PhD
under the supervision of Peter Whittle
, studying queueing theory
, Markov chains and regenerative phenomena
. A year later, Whittle left Cambridge for the University of Manchester
, and, rather than follow him there, Kingman moved instead to Oxford
where he resumed his work under David Kendall
. After another year, Kendall was appointed to a professorship at Cambridge and so Kingman returned to the University. He returned, however, as a member of the teaching staff (and a Fellow
of Pembroke College) and never completed his PhD.
He married Valerie Cromwell, with whom he has two children, in 1964. In 1965, he took up the post of Reader
at the University of Sussex
where she was teaching, and was elected Professor of Mathematics and Statistics the next year. He held this post until 1969, when he moved to Oxford as Professor of Mathematics, a position he held until 1985. He has said of this appointment:
The London Mathematical Society
awarded Kingman its Berwick Prize
in 1967 In 1971, Kingman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, later receiving its Royal Medal
in 1983 "[i]n recognition of his distinguished researches on queuing theory, on regenerative phenomena, and on mathematical genetics". He was also awarded the Guy Medal
in silver by the Royal Statistical Society
in 1981. During his time at Oxford, as well as holding a Fellowship at St. Anne's College from 1978 to 1985, Kingman also chaired the Science and Engineering Research Council (now the EPSRC
) from 1981 to 1985, was vice-president of the Institute of Statisticians
from 1978 until 1992 and held visiting appointments at the University of Western Australia
(1974) and the Australian National University
(1978).
In 1985, Kingman was knight
ed by Queen Elizabeth II
for his work with the Science and Engineering Research Council. From October that year, Sir John was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol
. He remained in Bristol
until 2001 when he took up his post at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge. Shortly after making that move, Kingman drew some media attention for having the third-highest salary among British Vice-Chancellors and this having nearly doubled in his final year in the job, at a time when most academics received pay-rises of about 3%. Whilst at Bristol, he also served in a number of other capacities. In the academic field, he was president of the Royal Statistical Society
from 1987 to 1989, and president of the London Mathematical Society
from 1990 to 1992. In public service, he was a member of the board of the British Council
between 1986 and 1991 and was on the Board of the British Technology Group from 1986 until after it was privatised in 1992. He also held directorships at a number of industrial companies, including IBM
from 1985 to 1995 and SmithKline Beecham from 1986 to 1989. In 1987/88, Kingman chaired the Committee of Inquiry into the teaching of the English language
. In 2000, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
appointed Sir John the first chairman of the Statistics Commission
, the body that oversees the work of the Office for National Statistics
, the UK government's statistics agency. In 2002, Kingman attracted some media attention
by telling the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee that the 2011 UK Census could be conducted using new technology rather than the traditional headcount, or even not conducted at all.
Sir John holds honorary degree
s from the universities of Sussex, Southampton
, Bristol, the West of England
, and Queen's, Ontario
.
Beckenham
Beckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located 8.4 miles south east of Charing Cross and 1.75 miles west of Bromley town...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
He was N. M. Rothschild and Sons
N M Rothschild & Sons
N M Rothschild & Sons is a private investment banking company, belonging to the Rothschild family...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Mathematical Sciences
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and Director of the Isaac Newton Institute
Isaac Newton Institute
The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for mathematics and theoretical physics. Part of the University of Cambridge, it is named after one of the university's most illustrious figures, the mathematician and natural philosopher Sir Isaac Newton....
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
from 2001 until 2006, when he was succeeded by Sir David Wallace
David Wallace (physicist)
Professor Sir David James Wallace, CBE, FRS, DL is the Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge and master of Churchill College, Cambridge....
. He is famous for developing the mathematics of the coalescent
Coalescent theory
In genetics, coalescent theory is a retrospective model of population genetics. It attempts to trace all alleles of a gene shared by all members of a population to a single ancestral copy, known as the most recent common ancestor...
, a theoretical model of inheritance, which is fundamental to modern population genetics.
The grandson of a coal miner
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
, he grew up in London, eventually being awarded a scholarship to read mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
in 1956. On graduating in 1960, he began work on his PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
under the supervision of Peter Whittle
Peter Whittle
Peter Whittle is a mathematician and statistician, working in the fields of stochastic nets, optimal control, time series analysis, stochastic optimization and stochastic dynamics...
, studying queueing theory
Queueing theory
Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. The theory enables mathematical analysis of several related processes, including arriving at the queue, waiting in the queue , and being served at the front of the queue...
, Markov chains and regenerative phenomena
Renewal theory
Renewal theory is the branch of probability theory that generalizes Poisson processes for arbitrary holding times. Applications include calculating the expected time for a monkey who is randomly tapping at a keyboard to type the word Macbeth and comparing the long-term benefits of different...
. A year later, Whittle left Cambridge for the University of Manchester
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
, and, rather than follow him there, Kingman moved instead to Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
where he resumed his work under David Kendall
David George Kendall
David George Kendall FRS was an English statistician, who spent much of his academic life in the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He worked with M. S...
. After another year, Kendall was appointed to a professorship at Cambridge and so Kingman returned to the University. He returned, however, as a member of the teaching staff (and a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of Pembroke College) and never completed his PhD.
He married Valerie Cromwell, with whom he has two children, in 1964. In 1965, he took up the post of Reader
Reader (academic rank)
The title of Reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship...
at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
where she was teaching, and was elected Professor of Mathematics and Statistics the next year. He held this post until 1969, when he moved to Oxford as Professor of Mathematics, a position he held until 1985. He has said of this appointment:
Statistics in Oxford in 1969 was frankly a mess. There was no professor of statistics, the only chair having been abolished some years before...[Maurice Bartlett and] I conspired to persuade Oxford to take statistics seriously.
The London Mathematical Society
London Mathematical Society
-See also:* American Mathematical Society* Edinburgh Mathematical Society* European Mathematical Society* List of Mathematical Societies* Council for the Mathematical Sciences* BCS-FACS Specialist Group-External links:* * *...
awarded Kingman its Berwick Prize
Berwick Prizes
The Berwick Prize and Senior Berwick Prize are two prizes of the London Mathematical Society awarded in alternating years in memory of William Edward Hodgson Berwick, a previous Vice-President of the LMS. Berwick left some money to be given to the society to establish two prizes...
in 1967 In 1971, Kingman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, later receiving its Royal Medal
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
in 1983 "[i]n recognition of his distinguished researches on queuing theory, on regenerative phenomena, and on mathematical genetics". He was also awarded the Guy Medal
Guy Medal
The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Gold Medal is awarded triennially, the other two are awarded annually...
in silver by the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
in 1981. During his time at Oxford, as well as holding a Fellowship at St. Anne's College from 1978 to 1985, Kingman also chaired the Science and Engineering Research Council (now the EPSRC
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences , mainly to universities in the United Kingdom...
) from 1981 to 1985, was vice-president of the Institute of Statisticians
Institute of Statisticians
The Institute of Statisticians was a British professional organization founded in 1948 to protect the interests of professional statisticians. It was originally named The Association of Incorporated Statisticians Limited, but this was later changed...
from 1978 until 1992 and held visiting appointments at the University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
(1974) and the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
(1978).
In 1985, Kingman was knight
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
ed by Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
for his work with the Science and Engineering Research Council. From October that year, Sir John was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
. He remained in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
until 2001 when he took up his post at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge. Shortly after making that move, Kingman drew some media attention for having the third-highest salary among British Vice-Chancellors and this having nearly doubled in his final year in the job, at a time when most academics received pay-rises of about 3%. Whilst at Bristol, he also served in a number of other capacities. In the academic field, he was president of the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
from 1987 to 1989, and president of the London Mathematical Society
London Mathematical Society
-See also:* American Mathematical Society* Edinburgh Mathematical Society* European Mathematical Society* List of Mathematical Societies* Council for the Mathematical Sciences* BCS-FACS Specialist Group-External links:* * *...
from 1990 to 1992. In public service, he was a member of the board of the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
between 1986 and 1991 and was on the Board of the British Technology Group from 1986 until after it was privatised in 1992. He also held directorships at a number of industrial companies, including IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
from 1985 to 1995 and SmithKline Beecham from 1986 to 1989. In 1987/88, Kingman chaired the Committee of Inquiry into the teaching of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. In 2000, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
appointed Sir John the first chairman of the Statistics Commission
Statistics Commission
The Statistics Commission was a non-departmental public body established in June 2000 by the UK Government to oversee the work of the Office for National Statistics1,2. Its chairman was Professor David Rhind who succeeded the first chairman, Sir John Kingman, in May 20033. Although it was...
, the body that oversees the work of the Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
, the UK government's statistics agency. In 2002, Kingman attracted some media attention
by telling the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee that the 2011 UK Census could be conducted using new technology rather than the traditional headcount, or even not conducted at all.
Sir John holds honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
s from the universities of Sussex, Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
, Bristol, the West of England
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England is a university based in the English city of Bristol. Its main campus is at Frenchay, about five miles north of the city centre...
, and Queen's, Ontario
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
.