Richard Alexander RobbFRSE (1901–1977) was a Scottish mathematician, statistician and astronomer.
A keen athlete, he won the Scottish 100m sprint and represented Great Britain in the1928 Olympic Games inAmsterdam on the sprint team (but won no medals).[1]
He was born inGlasgow on 7 September 1901. He was educated at Queen's Park School and in 1918 enteredGlasgow University to study Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (Physics). He won a Walter Scott Bursary to help with his expenses. He graduated MA with Honours in 1922[1] and BSc in 1923. Winning a further Euing Scholarship and Commonwealth Fund Fellowship allowed him to do postgraduate studies at theUniversity of Michigan 1926 to 1928. Returning toGlasgow University, he then began lecturing in mathematics.
In 1929, he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers wereThomas Murray MacRobert,John McWhan,Donald McArthur andWilliam Arthur.[2] He was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Astronomical Society in 1931. He was President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society 1934/5.
He spent some time at theUniversity of Lund inSweden, studying astronomy and on his return was awarded his first doctorate (DSc) by Glasgow in 1936. In 1944, he became the Mitchell Lecturer in Statistics.[3]
He retired in 1966 and died on 22 March 1977 inEaglesham, where he lived with his sister.
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