Peter Gavin Hall 1951–2016

Peter Hall, in the 40 years of his research career, produced work in both probability and statistics, whose breadth and depth must be regarded as phenomenal. He displayed extraordinary technical skills together with remarkable intuition in developing and applying multifaceted mathematical approaches in the whole of his work. The impact of this wide-ranging use of powerful mathematical methods has had a profound effect on much of modern mathematical statistics. 

After completing his DPhil at Oxford, he remained in Australia for almost all his career although he was renowned as one of the major international figures in probability and statistics. 

Peter was a mentor to a large group of postgraduate students and postdoctoral colleagues giving encouragement and guidance and he attracted many research visitors contributing greatly to the whole of Australian statistical research. 

Remarkably, given his immense research output, he took a significant role in both editorial duties in major international journals and in advocacy for mathematics and statistics in Australia. 

Peter was a man of great charm whose modest demeanour belied his staggering abilities. His loss to mathematics and statistics is great, but is matched by the personal loss to us and to his many friends.

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Corrigendum

The original Supplementary Material 1 and 2 for this paper, available online, contained some errors. Supplementary Material 1 and 2 have now been corrected and replaced online.

About this memoir

This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 28(2), 2017. It was written by John Robinson and Alan H. Welsh.