Abraham Manie Adelstein (28 March 1916 – 18 October 1992) was a South African born medical doctor who became the

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's Chief Medical

Statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

Career

Adelstein was the fourth of five children (four boys and one girl) of Nathan Adelstein, a miller, and Rosie Cohen, Jewish immigrants from

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Oxford

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After graduating from the University of Witwatersrand and doing military service, Adelstein worked as a Health Officer (research and medical statistics) at South African Railways, 1947–61. He spent 1951–53 studying at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He returned to South African Railways as the Director of Research and Medical Statistics. Moving to

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in 1961, he became * Senior Lecturer at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, 1961–67, * medical statistician at the

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS), was created in May 1970 through the merger of the General Register Office and the Government Social Survey Department. It was a forerunner and constituent, with the UK Central Statistical Of ...

in 1967 * Chief Medical Statistician in 1975 (among his staff was John Fox, who later held this post). * Visiting Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine after retiring in 1981, until 1984. David Adelstein, one of his sons, was an active student politician at L.S.E. during the 1960s; he was President of

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during the famous protests in 1967. Both father and son were active politically on the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

and in anti-Apartheid politics.

Honours

* Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, 1977 *

Donald Reid Medal The Donald Reid Medal is awarded triennially by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in recognition of distinguished contributions to epidemiology. Institution The medal was instituted in 1979 in memory of Professor Donald Reid who w ...

, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1979 *

Bisset Hawkins Medal The Bisset Hawkins Medal is a triennial award made by the Royal College of Physicians of London to acknowledge work done in the preceding ten years in advancing sanitary science or promoting public health. It is named after Francis Bisset Hawkins (1 ...

, Royal College of Physicians, 1983 * Fellow, Faculty of Public Health Medicine

References

* Oxford

* '' Who was Who'' * Frank Whitehead "Abraham Manie Adelstein, 1916-92" Journal of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

. Series A (Statistics in Society), Vol. 156, No. 2. (1993), pp. 316–318. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelstein, A M 1916 births 1992 deaths Academics of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Civil servants in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Donald Reid Medalists 20th-century British mathematicians British statisticians British epidemiologists Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Jewish scientists Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African Jews South African people of Latvian-Jewish descent