Donald Bentley

{{short description|American mathematician}} {{use mdy dates|date=November 2021}} {{use American English|date=January 2024}} '''Donald Lyon Bentley''' is an American statistician and mathematician.<ref name="Official" /> A doctoral student of biostatistician Rupert Griel Miller at the Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences,<ref>{{mathgenealogy|id=9330}}</ref><ref name="stan">{{cite web|url=https://statistics.stanford.edu/people/donald-lyon-bentley|title=Donald Lyon Bentley|publisher=statistics.stanford.edu|access-date=2024-10-04}}</ref> Bentley graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics and Statistics in 1962.<ref name="stan"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/9762529|title=Contributions to counter theory with applications to rod vision|publisher=searchworks.stanford.edu|access-date=2024-10-04}}</ref> He then taught at the Mathematics and Statistics Department of Pomona College in Claremont, California from 1964 to 2001,<ref name="PCM 2012"/> becoming Lingurn H. Burkhead Professor of Mathematics,<ref name=dolinar>{{cite magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205084221/http://www.pomona.edu/Magazine/PCMfl00/1.shtml|archive-date=2012-12-05|url=http://www.pomona.edu/Magazine/PCMfl00/1.shtml|url-status=dead|magazine=Pomona College Magazine|date=Fall 2000|volume=37|issue=1|first=Sarah|last=Dolinar|title=The Mystery of 47}}</ref> an endowed chair, before retiring to become a professor emeritus.<ref name="Official">{{cite web |title=Donald Bentley |date=July 7, 2021 |url=https://www.pomona.edu/directory/people/donald-bentley |publisher=Pomona College |access-date=30 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> He was also president of the Southern California Chapter of the American Statistical Association from 1987 to 1988,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://community.amstat.org/scasa/about-us/new-item|title=List of Presidents of the Southern California Chapter of the American Statistical Association|publisher=American Statistical Association|access-date=2024-10-04}}</ref> and was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ww2.amstat.org/fellows/|title=ASA Fellows|publisher=American Statistical Association|access-date=2024-10-04}}</ref>

Bentley is known locally for his role in creating Pomona College's tradition of revering the number 47.<ref name=dolinar/><ref name="PCM 2012">{{cite magazine |last1=Kendall |first1=Mark |title=D.B. and That Number |url=https://magazine.pomona.edu/2012/fall/d-b-and-that-number/ |access-date=14 September 2022 |magazine=Pomona College Magazine |volume=49 |issue=1 |date=November 14, 2012}}</ref> It began in the summer of 1964,<ref name="1964 timeline">{{cite web |title=1964 |url=https://www.pomona.edu/timeline/1960s/1964 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807012720/https://www.pomona.edu/timeline/1960s/1964 |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |access-date=7 April 2020 |website=Pomona College Timeline |publisher=Pomona College |language=en}}</ref> when two students, Laurie Mets and Bruce Elgin, conducted a research project seeking to find out whether the number occurs more often in nature than would be expected by chance. They documented various 47 sightings, and Bentley produced a false mathematical proof that 47 was equal to all other integers. The number became a meme among the class, which spread once the academic year began and snowballed over time.<ref name="PCM 47">{{cite magazine |date=Spring 2015 |title=The Mystery of 47 |language=en |magazine=Pomona College Magazine |url=https://magazine.pomona.edu/2015/spring/the-mystery-of-47/#:~:text=At%20the%20time%20of%20Pomona%E2%80%99s%20first |access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref> Many Pomona alumni have since deliberately inserted 47 references into their work.<ref name="Chronicle 47">{{cite news |last=Lipka |first=Sara |date=11 February 2005 |title=Pomona's Prime Number |language=en |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/pomonas-prime-number/ |url-status=live |url-access=registration |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029133958/https://www.chronicle.com/article/pomonas-prime-number/ |archive-date=October 29, 2020}}</ref> In the early 2010s, the college's clock tower would chime on the 47th minute of the hour.<ref name="TSL_Clock">{{cite news |last=Rowan |first=Brendan |date=November 5, 2010 |title=Clock Tower Bell Set to Chime On the 47th Minute |language=en |work=The Student Life |url=https://tsl.news/news1684/ |url-status=live |access-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731055431/https://tsl.news/news1684/ |archive-date=July 31, 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Donald}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American mathematicians Category:Pomona College Category:Pomona College faculty Category:American Statistical Association Category:Fellows of the American Statistical Association Category:Stanford University alumni Category:20th-century American statisticians Category:21st-century American statisticians