Donald Andrew Dawson (born June 4, 1937) is a Canadian mathematician, specializing in

probability Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

Education and career

Dawson received in 1958 his bachelor's degree and in 1959 his master's degree from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

and in 1963 his PhD from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

under

Henry McKean Henry P. McKean, Jr. (December 10, 1930 – April 20, 2024) was an American mathematician at the Courant Institute in New York University. He worked in various areas of analysis. He obtained his PhD in 1955 from Princeton University under William ...

with thesis ''Constructions of Diffusions with Specified Mean Hitting Times and Hitting Probabilities''. In 1962/63 he was an engineer in the aerospace department of

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

. At McGill University he became in 1963 an assistant professor and in 1967 an associate professor. At

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

he became in 1970 an associate professor and in 1971 a professor, working in this position until 1996. From 1996 to 2000 Dawson was the director of the

Fields Institute The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, commonly known simply as the Fields Institute, is an international centre for scientific research in mathematical sciences. It is an independent non-profit with strong ties to 20 Ontar ...

and during these years also an adjunct professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. From 2000 to 2010 he was an adjunct professor at McGill University.

Research

Dawson works on stochastic processes, measure-valued processes, and hierarchical stochastic systems with applications in information systems, genetics, evolutionary biology, and economics. He has written 8 monographs and over 150 refereed publications. In 1994 he was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

with lecture ''Interaction and hierarchy in measure-valued processes''. From 2003 to 2005 he was the president of the

Bernoulli Society The Bernoulli Society is a professional association that aims to further the progress of probability and mathematical statistics, founded as part of the International Statistical Institute in 1975. It is named after the Bernoulli family The Berno ...

Honors and awards

*Fellow of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. At a meeting of the Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, statisticians met and formed the agreed statues of the International Statistical ...

1975 *Fellow of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts ...

1977 *Killam Senior Research Scholar 1977–1979 *Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

, Academy of Sciences 1987 *Gold Medal of the

Statistical Society of Canada The Statistical Society of Canada (abbreviated as SSC; ) is a professional organization whose mission is to promote the use and development of statistics and probability. Its objectives are * to make the general public aware of the value of stat ...

1991 *

Jeffery–Williams Prize The Jeffery–Williams Prize is a mathematics award presented annually by the Canadian Mathematical Society. The award is presented to individuals in recognition of outstanding contributions to mathematical research. The first award was present ...

1994 *Max Planck Research Award for International Cooperation 1996–2000 *

CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize The CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize is the premier Canadian research prize in the mathematical sciences. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional research achievement in the mathematical sciences and is given annually by three Canadian mathematics institu ...

2004 *Honorary Member of the Statistical Society of Canada 2004 *

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

2010 *Fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

2012 *Inaugural fellow of the

Canadian Mathematical Society The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS; French: ''Société mathématique du Canada'') is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to advancing mathematical research, outreach, scholarship and education in Canada. The Society se ...

, 2018

Selected works

*with Edwin A. Perkins: ''Measure-valued processes and Renormalization of Branching Particle Systems'', in R. Carmona, B. Rozovskii ''Stochastic Partial Differential Equations: Six Perspectives'', American Mathematical Society Mathematical Surveys and Monographs, vol. 64, 1999, pp. 45–106. *with J. T. Cox, A. Greven
''Mutually catalytic super branching random walks: large finite systems and renormalization analysis''
American Mathematical Society 2004 *as editor: ''Measure-valued processes, stochastic partial differential equations, and interacting systems'', American Mathematical Society 1994 *with Edwin Perkins

American Mathematical Society 1991 *with J. Gärtner: ''Large deviations, free energy functional and quasi-potential for a mean field model of interacting diffusions'', American Mathematical Society 1989

References

External links

Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Donald Andrew 1937 births Canadian mathematicians Probability theorists McGill University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Academic staff of McGill University Academic staff of Carleton University Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Canadian Mathematical Society Living people