Richard Alexander Robb

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1901–1977) was a Scottish mathematician, statistician and astronomer. A keen athlete, he won the Scottish 100m sprint and represented Great Britain in the

1928 Olympic Games 1928 Olympics may refer to: *The 1928 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland *The 1928 Summer Olympics, which were held in Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most po ...

in Amsterdam on the sprint team (but won no medals).

Life

He was born in Glasgow on 7 September 1901. He was educated at Queen's Park School and in 1918 entered Glasgow University to study Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (Physics). He won a Walter Scott Bursary to help with his expenses. He graduated MA with Honours in 1922 and BSc in 1923. Winning a further Euing Scholarship and Commonwealth Fund Fellowship allowed him to do postgraduate studies at the University of Michigan 1926 to 1928. Returning to Glasgow University, he then began lecturing in mathematics. In 1929, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Thomas Murray MacRobert,

John McWhan John McWhan FRSE (1885-1943) was a Scottish mathematician and academic. His academic range included electrical engineering. Life He was born in Cambuslang on 22 January 1885 the son of Maggie and John McWhan, headmaster of the local school. He was ...

Donald McArthur Prof Donald Neil McArthur FRSE FRIC (1892-1965) was a 20th-century Scottish chemist who served as the Director of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Science from 1948 to 1958. Life He was born in Glasgow on 2 August 1892 the son of Donald McArthur ...

and William Arthur. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1931. He was President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society 1934/5. He spent some time at the University of Lund in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, studying astronomy and on his return was awarded his first doctorate (DSc) by Glasgow in 1936. In 1944, he became the Mitchell Lecturer in Statistics. He retired in 1966 and died on 22 March 1977 in

Eaglesham Eaglesham ( ) is a village in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, situated about south of Glasgow, southeast of Newton Mearns and south of Clarkston, and southwest of East Kilbride. The 2011 census revealed that the village had 3,114 occupants, dow ...

, where he lived with his sister.

Publications

*''Studies in Stellar Statistics'' (1936)

References

1901 births 1977 deaths Scientists from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow Scottish mathematicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-scientist-stub