John Kingman
Sir John Frank Charles Kingman FRS[4] (born 28 August 1939)[5] is a British mathematician.[2][6] He served as 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,[1][5][7] when he was succeeded by David Wallace. He is known for developing the mathematics of the coalescent theory, a theoretical model of inheritance that is fundamental to modern population genetics.
For the British businessman, see John Kingman (businessman).
Sir John Kingman
Peter Haggett (acting)
Alec Merrison
Sir Eric Thomas
Valerie Cromwell (m. 1964–2018)
University of Cambridge (BA, 1960)
Education and early life[edit]
The grandson of a coal miner and son of a government scientist with a PhD in chemistry, Kingman was born in Beckenham, Kent, and grew up in the outskirts of London, where he attended Christ's College, Finchley, which was then a state grammar school. He was awarded a scholarship to read mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1956.[5][8] On graduating in 1960, he began work on his PhD under the supervision of Peter Whittle, studying queueing theory, Markov chains and regenerative phenomena.
Honors and awards[edit]
In 1985 Kingman was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his work with the Science and Engineering Research Council.[5][7] Kingman holds honorary degrees from the University of Sussex, The University of Southampton, the University of Bristol, the University of the West of England, and Queen's University (Ontario).[5] The London Mathematical Society awarded Kingman its Berwick Prize in 1967.[20] Kingman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1971,[4][21] later receiving its Royal Medal in 1983 "[i]n recognition of his distinguished researches on queuing theory, on regenerative phenomena, and on mathematical genetics".[22] He was also awarded the Guy Medal in silver by the Royal Statistical Society in 1981.[5]
Personal life[edit]
He married Valerie Cromwell in 1964.[5] They had two children, including John Oliver Frank Kingman. Lady Kingman died in 2018.[23]