Lord Robert May of Oxford OM. 8 January 1936—28 April 2020

Abstract

Robert May was the leading theoretical ecologist of his generation. He started his career as a theoretical physicist and began the transition to ecology soon after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard. His mathematical analysis of the stability of ecological communities challenged orthodox views and spawned a new research agenda. He demonstrated that many different patterns of population fluctuations, including chaotic behaviour, could arise from simple mathematical models. Together with R. M. Anderson, he transformed the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases. All of his work was characterized by his remarkable ability to reduce complex problems to their essential simplicities. His achievements were recognized by the award of numerous major international prizes. May also served as the UK government's chief scientific advisor between 1995 and 2000, and as President of the Royal Society between 2000 and 2005.