Adrian Smith (statistician)

Sir Adrian Smith
PRS
Sir Adrian Smith PRS
63rd President of the Royal Society
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 30 November 2020
Preceded by	Venki Ramakrishnan
Personal details
Born	Adrian Frederick Melhuish Smith; 9 September 1946 (age 77); Dawlish, Devon, England
Residence	UK
Alma mater	University of Cambridge; University College London
Awards	Guy Medal (Bronze, 1977) (Silver, 1993) (Gold, 2016)
	Scientific career
Fields	Statistics
Institutions	Imperial College London; Queen Mary, University of London
Thesis	Bayesian inference for the linear model (1972)
Doctoral advisor	Dennis Lindley
Doctoral students	David Spiegelhalter; Chris Holmes

Sir Adrian Frederick Melhuish Smith, PRS (born 9 September 1946) is a British statistician who is chief executive of the Alan Turing Institute and president of the Royal Society.^[2]

Early life and education

Smith was born on 9 September 1946 in Dawlish in Devon. He was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and University College London, where his PhD supervisor was Dennis Lindley.

Career

From 1977 until 1990, he was professor of statistics and head of department of mathematics at the University of Nottingham. He was subsequently at Imperial College, London, where he was head of the mathematics department. Smith is a former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of London and became vice-chancellor of the university on 1 September 2012.^[3] He stood down from the role in August 2018 to become the director of the Alan Turing Institute.^[4]^[5]

Smith is a member of the governing body of the London Business School. He served on the Advisory Council for the Office for National Statistics from 1996 to 1998, was statistical advisor to the Nuclear Waste Inspectorate from 1991 to 1998 and was advisor on Operational Analysis to the Ministry of Defence from 1982 to 1987.

He is a former president of the Royal Statistical Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001. His FRS citation included "his diverse contributions to Bayesian statistics. His monographs are the most comprehensive available and his work has had a major impact on the development of monitoring tools for clinicians."

In statistical theory, Smith is a proponent of Bayesian statistics and evidence-based practice—a general extension of evidence-based medicine into all areas of public policy. With Antonio Machi, he translated Bruno de Finetti's Theory of Probability into English. He wrote an influential paper in 1990 along with Alan E. Gelfand, which drew attention to the significance of the Gibbs sampler technique for Bayesian numerical integration problems. He was also co-author of the seminal paper on the particle filter (Gordon, Salmond and Smith, 1993).

In mathematics and statistics education, Smith led the team which produced the Smith Report on secondary mathematics education in the United Kingdom.

In April 2008, Smith was appointed as director general of science and research at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (since merged with other departments to form the UK's BEIS). He took up his post in September 2008. His annual remuneration for this role is £160,000.^[6]

Smith was knighted in the 2011 New Year Honours.^[7] In 2023 he was a guest on The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4.^[8]

Honorary doctorates

In 2011, Smith was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Plymouth University, in 2015, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Ohio State University.^[9] and in 2020 an Honorary Doctorate Honoris Causa from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He also was awarded Honorary Doctorates from City University, University of Loughborough, Queen Mary and University of London.

Bibliography

Gelfand, A. E.; Smith, A. F. M. (1990). "Sampling-Based Approaches to Calculating Marginal Densities". Journal of the American Statistical Association. 85 (410): 398–409. doi:10.2307/2289776. JSTOR 2289776.
Gordon, N.J.; Salmond, D.J.; Smith, A.F.M. (1993). "Novel approach to nonlinear/non-Gaussian Bayesian state estimation". IEE Proceedings F - Radar and Signal Processing. 140 (2). Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET): 107. doi:10.1049/ip-f-2.1993.0015. ISSN 0956-375X.
Smith, Adrian (2004). Making Mathematics Count: The Report of Professor Adrian Smith's Inquiry into Post-14 Mathematics Education. London, England: The Stationery Office.

References

^ Adrian Smith at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
^ "Sir Adrian Smith becomes President of the Royal Society".
^ "New Vice-Chancellor of the University of London". IQuad. Royal Holloway, University of London. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
^ "University of London appoints interim Vice-Chancellor". University of London. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "Professor Sir Adrian Smith to stand down as Vice-Chancellor". University of London. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
^ "Top civil servant salary list published". Directgov. 1 June 2010. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
^ "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 1.
^ "The power of Bayesian statistics". Retrieved 7 February 2023.
^ "Honorary Degree Recipients Archives | Ohio State".

External links

Making Mathematics Count (Smith report)
There is a photograph at "Adrian F M Smith" on the Portraits of Statisticians page
Dellaportas, Petros; Stephens, David A. (2020). "Interview with Professor Adrian FM Smith". International Statistical Review. 88 (2): 265–279. doi:10.1111/insr.12395. S2CID 225600734.

Business positions
Preceded by Alan Wilson	Director and CEO of Alan Turing Institute 2018–current	Incumbent
Academic offices
Preceded by Geoffrey Crossick	49th Vice-Chancellor of the University of London 2012–2018	Succeeded by Peter Kopelman
New title	1st Principal of Queen Mary University of London 1998–2008	Succeeded by Philip Ogden (acting) Simon Gaskell
Government offices
Preceded by	Director General for Knowledge and Innovation of Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 2008–2012	Succeeded by
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Venki Ramakrishnan	63rd President of the Royal Society 2020–present	Incumbent

[mathgene-1] Adrian Smith at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

[2] "Sir Adrian Smith becomes President of the Royal Society".

[3] "New Vice-Chancellor of the University of London". IQuad. Royal Holloway, University of London. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.

[4] "University of London appoints interim Vice-Chancellor". University of London. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[5] "Professor Sir Adrian Smith to stand down as Vice-Chancellor". University of London. Retrieved 19 November 2020.

[6] "Top civil servant salary list published". Directgov. 1 June 2010. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2010.

[7] "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 1.

[Adrian_Smith_2023-8] "The power of Bayesian statistics". Retrieved 7 February 2023.

[9] "Honorary Degree Recipients Archives | Ohio State".

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v t e Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 2001
Fellows	David Attwell David Baulcombe John Beddington Tim Berners-Lee Robert J. Birgeneau J. Richard Bond Hugh Bostock Keith Burnett Paul Callaghan Graham Collingridge James F. Crow Richard Dawkins Roger Ekins Henry Elderfield Anthony G. Evans Brian Eyre Peter Gluckman Charles Godfray Brigid Hogan John Hunt Frances Kirwan Shrinivas Kulkarni Andrew Leslie Michael Levitt Robin Lovell-Badge Paul Madden Mike Paterson Bruce Ponder Geoffrey Raisman Allan Sandage Dale Sanders David Schindler George M. Sheldrick Sheila Sherlock Thomas Simpson Adrian Smith Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan Ian Stewart Roger Tanner Marc Tessier-Lavigne Nicholas Tonks W. G. Unruh Bryan Webber Alex Wilkie
Honorary	Patrick Moore
Foreign	Alexei Abrikosov Alan Fowler Clara Franzini-Armstrong Ahmed Zewail

v t e Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
Category List

v t e Presidents of the Royal Society
17th century	Viscount Brouncker (1662) Joseph Williamson (1677) Christopher Wren (1680) John Hoskyns (1682) Cyril Wyche (1683) Samuel Pepys (1684) Earl of Carbery (1686) Earl of Pembroke (1689) Robert Southwell (1690) Charles Montagu (1695) Lord Somers (1698)
18th century	Isaac Newton (1703) Hans Sloane (1727) Martin Folkes (1741) Earl of Macclesfield (1752) Earl of Morton (1764) James Burrow (1768) James West (1768) James Burrow (1772) John Pringle (1772) Joseph Banks (1778)
19th century	William Hyde Wollaston (1820) Humphry Davy (1820) Davies Gilbert (1827) Duke of Sussex (1830) Marquess of Northampton (1838) Earl of Rosse (1848) Lord Wrottesley (1854) Benjamin Collins Brodie (1858) Edward Sabine (1861) George Biddell Airy (1871) Joseph Dalton Hooker (1873) William Spottiswoode (1878) Thomas Henry Huxley (1883) George Gabriel Stokes (1885) Lord Kelvin (1890) Joseph Lister (1895)
20th century	William Huggins (1900) Lord Rayleigh (1905) Archibald Geikie (1908) William Crookes (1913) J. J. Thomson (1915) Charles Scott Sherrington (1920) Ernest Rutherford (1925) Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1930) William Henry Bragg (1935) Henry Hallett Dale (1940) Robert Robinson (1945) Lord Adrian (1950) Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (1955) Howard Florey (1960) Patrick Blackett (1965) Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (1970) Lord Todd (1975) Andrew Huxley (1980) George Porter (1985) Sir Michael Atiyah (1990) Sir Aaron Klug (1995)
21st century	Lord May (2000) Lord Rees (2005) Sir Paul Nurse (2010) Venki Ramakrishnan (2015) Adrian Smith (2020)

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