Henry Ellis Daniels FRS[1] (2 October 1912 – 16 April 2000)[2][3] was a British statistician. He was President of the Royal Statistical Society (1974–1975), and was awarded its Guy Medal in Gold in 1984, following a silver medal in 1947. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1980. The Parry-Daniels map is named after him (together with the English mathematician Bill Parry).[3][4]
Henry Ellis Daniels | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 October 1912 London, UK |
| Died | 16 April 2000 (aged 87) Shrewsbury, UK |
| Occupation | Statistician |
| Known for | The Parry-Daniels map Saddle point approximation |
| Spouse | Barbara Pickering (m. 1950) |
| Children | 2 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh University of Cambridge |
| Doctoral advisor | Alexander Aitken |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Wool Industries Research Association University of Cambridge University of Birmingham |
| Doctoral students | David Cox James Durbin Anil Kumar Gain Wally Smith |
Education and career
editDaniels was born in London and was educated at George Heriot's School.[5] He subsequently graduated from the University of Edinburgh (M.A. Hons. 1933[citation needed], PhD 1943)[6] and went on to further study at Clare College, Cambridge (B.A. 1935).[7] In 1957, he became the first Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the University of Birmingham.[2] He stayed at the university till his retirement in 1978. After retirement, he went to Cambridge and lived there until his death.[8] He died at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, having suffered a "massive stroke" at breakfast time the previous day.[1] His funeral was officiated, at his request, by a humanist.[1]
The watchmaker George Daniels (no relation) enlisted Daniels' help with the equations required for the design of his Space Traveller's Watch.[2]
Personal life
editDaniels' family was Jewish, of Russian (partly Polish and partly Lithuanian) origin.[5] In 1950, Daniels married Barbara Pickering; together, they had two children.[1]
In 2000, while on travel during a workshop held at Gregynog Hall, Daniels suffered a massive stroke and died at the nearby Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.[1]
Selected publications by Daniels
edit- Daniels, H. E. (1954). "Saddlepoint Approximations in Statistics" (PDF). The Annals of Mathematical Statistics. 25 (4): 631–650. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177728652.
- Daniels, H. E. (1975). "Statistics in Universities--A Personal View". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. 138 (1): 1–17. doi:10.2307/2345246. JSTOR 2345246.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Cox, D. (2003). "Henry Ellis Daniels. 2 October 1912 – 16 April 2000". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 49: 133–146. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2003.0008. S2CID 68973246.
- ^ a b c "Obituaries: Henry Daniels, Edwin J. Redfern". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series D. 50 (2): 213–215. 2001. doi:10.1111/1467-9884.00273.
- ^ a b Whittle, P. (1993). "A Conversation with Henry Daniels". Statistical Science. 8 (3): 342–353. doi:10.1214/ss/1177010911.
- ^ Henry Daniels at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ a b "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74126. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Daniels, H. E. (1943). On the strength distribution of bundles of threads, and its asymptotic approximation (PDF) (Thesis).
- ^ "DANIELS, Prof. Henry Ellis". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2018 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Whittle, Peter (4 May 2000). "Obituary: Henry Daniels". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
External links
edit- Papers and biographical sketch Archived 9 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Photograph
- The History of the Cambridge Statistical Laboratory Archived 19 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
