Abraham Manie Adelstein (28 March 1916 – 18 October 1992) was a South African born medical doctor who became the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's Chief Medical

Statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

Career

Adelstein was the fourth of five children (four boys and one girl) of Nathan Adelstein, a miller, and Rosie Cohen,

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish immigrants from

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

.Oxford

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

After graduating from the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in ...

and doing military service, Adelstein worked as a Health Officer (research and medical statistics) at

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a Rail transport in South Africa, South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed h ...

, 1947–61. He spent 1951–53 studying at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

. He returned to South African Railways as the Director of Research and Medical Statistics. Moving to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1961, he became * Senior Lecturer at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, 1961–67, * medical statistician at the

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) was created in May 1970 through the merger of the General Register Office and the Government Social Survey Department. It was a forerunner and constituent, with the UK Central Statistical Off ...

in 1967 * Chief Medical Statistician in 1975 (among his staff was John Fox, who later held this post). * Visiting professor at the

after retiring in 1981, until 1984. David Adelstein, one of his sons, was an active student politician at L.S.E. during the 1960s; he was President of

LSE Students' Union The London School of Economics Students' Union (LSESU) is the primary representative and campaigning body for students at the London School of Economics (LSE). Like other students' unions, it also funds and facilitates student activities of ca ...

during the famous protests in 1967. Both father and son were active politically on the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

and in anti-Apartheid politics.

Honours

* Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

, 1977 * Donald Reid Medal,

, 1979 * Bisset Hawkins Medal,

, 1983 * Fellow, Faculty of Public Health Medicine

References

* Oxford

* ''

Who was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

'' * Frank Whitehead "Abraham Manie Adelstein, 1916-92" Journal of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

. Series A (Statistics in Society), Vol. 156, No. 2. (1993), pp. 316–318. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelstein, A M 1916 births 1992 deaths Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Civil servants in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Donald Reid Medalists 20th-century British mathematicians British statisticians British epidemiologists Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Jewish scientists Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African Jews South African people of Latvian-Jewish descent 20th-century British Jews