| Authorised form of name | Whittle; Peter (1927-2021); mathematician and statistician |
| Dates | 1927-2021 |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Place of birth | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Date of birth | 27 February 1927 |
| Place of death | 268 Queen Edith’s Way, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 10 August 2021 |
| Occupation | Mathematician and statistician |
| Research field | Applied mathematics |
| Stochastic nets |
| Mathematics |
| Statistics |
| Mathematical statistics |
| Activity | Education:
Wellington Boys’ College (1944); University of New Zealand BSC (1947); MSc (1948); Uppsala University PhD (1950)
Career:
Docent at Uppsala at the Statistics Institute (1949-52); Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in the Applied Mathematics Laboratory (1953); lecturer in the Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge (1959); chair of mathematical statistics at the University of Manchester (1961); Churchill Professor of Mathematics for Operational Research at the University of Cambridge (1967-1994); director of the Cambridge Statistical Laboratory (1973-1986); died from Alzheimer’s disease.
Memberships:
Hon RSNZ (1981)
Awards/Medals:
Guy Medal Silver, 1966; Gold, 1996
Sylvester Medal 1994
John von Neumann Theory Prize 1997
Frederick W. Lanchester Prize 1986 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 16/03/1978 |
| Age at election | 51 |
| RSActivity | Medals and prizes:
Sylvester Medal 1994 |
| Relationships | Parents: Percy Whittle (1898-1971) and Elsie, née Tregurtha (1905-1993).
Spouse: (m. 1951) Käthe Blomquist (d. 2020).
Children: Martin, Lorna, Miles, Gregory, Jennifer, and Elsie. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 16297
RCN 21050
RCN 21051
RCN 16411
RCN 21052
RCN 11347 |
| OtherInfo | Conducted valuable work to clarify and extend the fundamental principles that underpin statistical analysis. Distinguished for his early research on the properties of time series, Peter's work is characterised by a desire to maximise the potential for practical applications.
From problems associated with rabbit population growth to complex issues of accounting, his contributions to the study of stochastic processes therefore exerted a significant and wide-reaching impact. Peter cemented this legacy of contributions to the field of statistics through the publication of numerous books and articles. |
| Source | Sources:
The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor Peter Whittle FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/peter-whittle-12523/; last accessed: 07/05/2025]
Statistical Laboratory, Cambridge University, [URL: https://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~frank/PW/P_Whittle_DNB.pdf; last accessed: 07/05/2025]
References:
'Address of the President, Sir Michael Atiyah, OM, Given at the Anniversary Meeting on 30 November 1994' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 141-151
Robin J H Clark and Michael J Kelly, 'New Zealand, New Zealanders and the Royal Society' in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 263-281 |
| Code | NA7036 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1978/39 | Whittle, Peter: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1971 |
| MSB/2/98 | 'Whittle papers 1990', file of M S Bartlett | 1990 |
| IM/004897 | Whittle, Peter | 1994 |