Richard Lewis Tweedie (22 August 1947 – 7 June 2001) was an Australian statistician.

Education

After having completed his undergraduate studies and a Master of Arts at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, Tweedie moved to

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, where he obtained his doctorate under the supervision of

David George Kendall David George Kendall FRS (15 January 1918 – 23 October 2007) was an English statistician and mathematician, known for his work on probability, statistical shape analysis, ley lines and queueing theory. He spent most of his academic lif ...

in 1972. Additionally, in 1986 he was awarded a

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree from the ANU for his major contributions to the theory of

Markov chains on a measurable state space A Markov chain on a measurable state space is a discrete-time-homogeneous Markov chain with a measurable space as state space. History The definition of Markov chains has evolved during the 20th century. In 1953 the term Markov chain was used ...

Career

Tweedie joined the company Siromath in 1981 as general manager, and became its managing director in 1983. He taught at

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its founding on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teaching-focused higher e ...

as Foundation Dean and Foundation Professor of Information Sciences from 1987 to 1992, after which he joined the faculty of Colorado State University (CSU). He was chair of CSU's Department of Statistics from 1992 to 1997, and left CSU to join the faculty of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1999. When he died in 2001 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

, he was the chair of the University of Minnesota's Division of Biostatistics.

Tobacco industry consulting

Tweedie did some work as a tobacco industry consultant during his career. This work included presenting his analysis of studies on the health effects of

passive smoking Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called secondhand smoke (SHS), or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by persons other than the intended "active" smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke enters an environment, causing its inhala ...

at a 1980 meeting, to which he had been invited by the industry.

Recognition

Tweedie was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

in 1997.

Education

Career

Tobacco industry consulting

Recognition

References

Further reading