# Rollo Davidson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rollo_Davidson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rollo_Davidson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_Davidson > Source revision: 1323196276 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British mathematician (1944–1970)}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} '''Rollo Davidson''' (8 October 1944 – 29 July 1970) was a [probabilist](/source/probability_theory), [alpinist](/source/alpinist), and [Fellow-elect](/source/Fellow) of [Churchill College, Cambridge](/source/Churchill_College%2C_Cambridge), who died aged 25 on [Piz Bernina](/source/Piz_Bernina). He is known for his work on [semigroup](/source/semigroup)s, [stochastic geometry](/source/stochastic_geometry), and [stochastic analysis](/source/stochastic_analysis), and for the [Rollo Davidson Prize](/source/Rollo_Davidson_Prize), given in his name to early-career probabilists. ==Life== Davidson was born in [Bristol](/source/Bristol). At the time of his birth, his parents lived in The Chantry, [Thornbury, Gloucestershire](/source/Thornbury%2C_Gloucestershire). His mother was Priscilla (née Chilver); his father, Brian Davidson, won a prize at Oxford for his study of classics, was president of the [Oxford Union](/source/Oxford_Union), and worked as a solicitor before becoming an executive with the [Bristol Aeroplane Company](/source/Bristol_Aeroplane_Company).[http://sms.thornburyroots.co.uk/CS%20Chantry%20later.htm The Chantry: The Later History], Thornbury Roots. Retrieved 26 March 2015. Rollo Davidson attended [Winchester College](/source/Winchester_College) before studying mathematics at [Trinity College, Cambridge](/source/Trinity_College%2C_Cambridge), from 1962 and becoming a research fellow there in 1967.[http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/Rollo/obituary.html Rollo Davidson: 1944–1970] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218211816/http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/Rollo/obituary.html |date=18 February 2012 }}. Reprinted from {{harvtxt|Kendall|Harding|1973}} pp. 449–452 and {{harvtxt|Harding|Kendall|1974}} pp. 381–384. He completed his PhD in 1968, under the supervision of [David George Kendall](/source/David_George_Kendall).{{mathgenealogy|id=101366}} He continued at Cambridge as assistant lecturer, lecturer, and in 1970 fellow-elect. He died in a [mountain climbing](/source/mountain_climbing) accident on the slopes of Piz Bernina in 1970. ==Contributions== In [stochastic geometry](/source/stochastic_geometry), Davidson is known for introducing the study of line processes, which he modelled as [point process](/source/point_process)es on spaces of parameters of lines.{{citation | last = Ripley | first = B. D. | issue = 6 | journal = The Annals of Probability | jstor = 2242958 | mr = 0474454 | pages = 995–998 | title = The foundations of stochastic geometry | volume = 4 | year = 1976 | doi=10.1214/aop/1176995942| doi-access = free }}. The second winner of the Rollo Davidson Prize, [Olav Kallenberg](/source/Olav_Kallenberg), won the prize for settling (negatively) a conjecture on line processes posed by Davidson in his thesis.{{citation | last1 = Kallenberg | first1 = Olav | authorlink1=Olav Kallenberg | doi = 10.1017/S0305004100053949 | issue = 2 | journal = [Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society](/source/Mathematical_Proceedings_of_the_Cambridge_Philosophical_Society) | mr = 0451399 | pages = 301–307 | title = A counterexample to R. Davidson's conjecture on line processes | volume = 82 | year = 1977| bibcode = 1977MPCPS..82..301K }}. In [stochastic analysis](/source/stochastic_analysis), also, Davidson has been described as a "remarkably original mathematician" who left a legacy of "tantalising unsolved problems".{{citation | last = Kingman | first = J. F. C. | department = Stochastic methods and their applications | doi = 10.1239/jap/1082552209 | journal = Journal of Applied Probability | jstor = 3215987 | mr = 2057584 | pages = 333–346 | title = Extremal problems for regenerative phenomena | volume = 41A | year = 2004| s2cid = 123576712 }}. He particularly studied Delphic semigroups, a class of [topological semigroup](/source/topological_semigroup)s introduced by his advisor to study [renewal sequences](/source/Renewal_theory);{{citation | last = Kendall | first = David G. | doi = 10.1090/S0002-9904-1967-11673-2 | journal = Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society | mr = 0203767 | pages = 120–121 | title = Delphic semigroups | volume = 73 | year = 1967| doi-access = free }}. {{harvtxt|Ruzsa|Székely|1988}} write that, despite the many applications of these semigroups, Davidson was "the only one to contribute seriously to Delphic theory" after Kendall, and that "his untimely death certainly deprived this theory of interesting developments".{{citation | last1 = Ruzsa | first1 = Imre Z. | author1-link = Imre Z. Ruzsa | last2 = Székely | first2 = Gábor J. | author2-link = Gábor J. Székely | isbn = 0-471-91803-2 | location = Chichester | mr = 974112 | page = 61 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. | series = Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics: Probability and Mathematical Statistics | title = Algebraic probability theory | year = 1988}}. ==Legacy== In 1975 a fund was established at Churchill College in his memory, endowed initially through the publication in his honour of two volumes{{harvtxt|Kendall|Harding|1973}}; {{harvtxt|Harding|Kendall|1974}} of papers, edited by E. F. Harding and D. G. Kendall.[https://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/rollo-davidson-trust Rollo Davidson Trust] A [prize from the Rollo Davidson Trust Fund](/source/Rollo_Davidson_Prize) has been awarded annually since 1976 to early-career probabilists.[https://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/rollo-davidson-awards-1976-2021 Rollo Davidson Awards 1976 - 2021] ==See also== * [Jacques Herbrand](/source/Jacques_Herbrand) ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==Further reading== *{{citation | last1 = Kendall | first1 = D. G. | last2 = Harding | first2 = E. F. | location = London-New York-Sydney | mr = 0350791 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | series = Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics | title = Stochastic Analysis: A tribute to the memory of Rollo Davidson | year = 1973}}. *{{citation | last1 = Harding | first1 = E. F. | last2 = Kendall | first2 = D. G. | location = London-New York-Sydney | mr = 0350792 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | series = Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics | title = Stochastic Geometry: A tribute to the memory of Rollo Davidson | year = 1974}}. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Rollo}} Category:Probability theorists Category:1944 births Category:1970 deaths Category:Scientists from Bristol Category:People educated at Winchester College Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Churchill College, Cambridge Category:Mountaineering deaths in Switzerland Category:20th-century English mathematicians Category:Deaths on Mont Blanc --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rollo Davidson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_Davidson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_Davidson?action=history)). 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