Henry Ellis Daniels FRS (2 October 1912 – 16 April 2000) was a British

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 ...

. He was President of the Royal Statistical Society (1974–1975), and was awarded its

Guy Medal The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Silver and Bronze medals are awarded annually. The Gold Medal was awarded every three years between 1987 and 2011, but is awarded biennia ...

in Gold in 1984, following a silver medal in 1947. He became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1980. The Parry-Daniels map is named after him (together with the

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Bill Parry William or Bill Parry may refer to: Sports *William Parry Crake (1852–1921), or William Parry, Wanderers footballer *Bill Parry (footballer, born 1873) (1873–1923), Welsh international footballer *Bill Parry (footballer, born 1914) (1914–196 ...

). Daniels' family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, of Russian (partly

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and partly

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

) origin. He was educated at George Heriot's School. He subsequently graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

(, PhD 1943) and went on to further study at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

(B.A. 1935). In 1957, he became the first Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. He stayed at the university till his retirement in 1978. After retirement, he went to Cambridge and lived there until his death. He died at

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is a teaching hospital in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It forms the Shrewsbury site of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, serving patients from Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Powys, i ...

, having suffered a "massive stroke" at breakfast time the previous day. His funeral was officiated, at his request, by a humanist. The watchmaker George Daniels (no relation) enlisted Daniels' help with the equations required for the design of his ''Space Traveller's Watch''. In 1950, Daniels married Barbara Pickering; together, they had two children.

Selected publications by Daniels

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References

External links

Photograph

1912 births 2000 deaths British Jews Jewish scientists British statisticians British people of Polish-Jewish descent British people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent British people of Russian-Jewish descent Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Birmingham Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society 20th-century British mathematicians {{UK-statistician-stub