Sir Alfred William Flux, CB (8 April 1867 – 16 July 1942) was a British economist and statistician.
Sir Alfred William Flux | |
|---|---|
 Flux c. 1895 | |
| Born | 8 April 1867 |
| Died | 16 July 1942 Faxe Ladeplads, Zealand, Denmark |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Awards | Guy Medal (silver, 1921) (gold, 1930) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Economics, statistics |
| Institutions | Manchester University, McGill University |
Biography
editFlux was born in the Landport district of Portsmouth in 1867, the son of a cement maker.[1] He attended Portsmouth Grammar School then studied mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was a Senior Wrangler in 1887[2] (sharing the honour in a tie with three others). While at Cambridge he became friends with Alfred Marshall, who interested him in economics. He was a foundation member of the Economic Society (1890). In 1893 he was appointed as Cobden Lecturer in Political Economy at Owens College, Manchester[3] and from then until 1908 taught economics, at Manchester and then at McGill University, Montreal.[4] In 1897, while in Manchester he married Harriet Emily Hansen, a Danish woman.[1] He served as secretary of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1900–1901.
Flux returned to London in 1908 to take up a post as advisor to the Commercial, Labour and Statistics Department. In 1918, he was appointed Head of the Statistics Department of the Board of Trade.[1] The Royal Statistical Society awarded him the Guy Medal in Silver in 1921 and in Gold in 1930. He also served as President of the Society between 1928 and 1930.[5]
Flux retired to Denmark in 1932 and was knighted in 1934. He died of pneumonia in 1942, aged 75.[1][2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Groenewegen, Peter (2008). "Alfred William Flux (1867–1942): a mathematician successfully 'caught' for economics by Marshall". History of Economics Review. 48: 63–77. doi:10.1080/18386318.2008.11682131. S2CID 151948387.
- ^ a b "Flux, Alfred William (FLS884AW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Manchester Faces and Places. Manchester: JG Hammond & Co Ltd. May 1895. pp. 124–126.
- ^ Bowley, A. L. (1942). "Obituary: Sir Alfred William Flux, C.B". Nature. 150 (3799): 228. doi:10.1038/150228a0.
- ^ "Royal Statistical Society Presidents". Royal Statistical Society. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
External links
edit
Works by or about Alfred William Flux at Wikisource
Further reading
edit- Clay, Henry; Whitaker, John K. (2004) "Flux, Sir Alfred William (1867–1942)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
