John Kingman
| Sir John Kingman | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Frank Charles Kingman 28 August 1939 Beckenham, Kent |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions |
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| Alma mater |
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| Doctoral advisor | Peter Whittle and David Kendall (PhD not completed) |
| Doctoral students |
Peter Gavin Hall Wilfrid S. Kendall |
| Known for |
Coalescent theory Kingman's formula |
| Notable awards |
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| Spouse | Valerie Cromwell (m. 1964) |
| Children | John Oliver Frank Kingman |
Sir John Frank Charles Kingman FRS (born 28 August 1939) is a British mathematician.
He was N. M. Rothschild and Sons Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Isaac Newton Institute at the University of Cambridge from 2001 until 2006, when he was succeeded by Sir David Wallace. He is famous for developing the mathematics of the coalescent, a theoretical model of inheritance, which is fundamental to modern population genetics.
The grandson of a coal miner and son of a government scientist with a PhD in chemistry, Kingman was born in Beckenham, Kent, and grew up in the outskirts of London, where he attended Christ's College, Finchley, which was then a state grammar school. He was awarded a scholarship to read mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1956. On graduating in 1960, he began work on his PhD under the supervision of Peter Whittle, studying queueing theory, Markov chains and regenerative phenomena. A year later, Whittle left Cambridge for the University of Manchester, and, rather than follow him there, Kingman moved instead to Oxford, where he resumed his work under David Kendall. After another year, Kendall was appointed to a professorship at Cambridge and so Kingman returned to the University. He returned, however, as a member of the teaching staff (and a Fellow of Pembroke College) and never completed his PhD.
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