View source for Robert May, Baron May of Oxford

{{short description|Australian scientist, president of the Royal Society (1936–2020)}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord May of Oxford
| honorific_suffix    = {{postnominals|country=GB|OM|AC|FRS|HonFREng|FAA|size=100%}} {{postnominals|country=AUS|FTSE|FRSN|FAIB|size=100%}}
| image               = BobMayHarvard (cropped2).jpg
| caption             = May in 2009
| title               = [[List of presidents of the Royal Society|President of the Royal Society]]
| order               = 59th
| term_start          = 2000
| term_end            = 2005
| predecessor         = [[Aaron Klug]]
| successor           = [[Martin Rees]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|df=yes|1936|01|08}}<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | title=MAY OF OXFORD | id = U27082 | volume = 2017 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford}}</ref>
| birth_place         = [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], Australia
| birth_name          = Robert McCredie May
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2020|04|28|1936|01|08|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Oxford]], [[Oxfordshire]], England
| citizenship         = Australia
| nationality         =
| module              = {{Infobox scientist | embed = yes
|fields            = [[Theoretical ecology]]
|workplaces        = [[Imperial College London]]<br/>[[University of Oxford]]<br/>[[Harvard University]]
|alma_mater        = [[University of Sydney]]
|doctoral_advisor  =
|academic_advisors =
|doctoral_students = {{ublist|[[George Sugihara]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sugihara|first1=George|last2=May|first2=Robert|title=Nonlinear forecasting as a way of distinguishing chaos from measurement error in time series|journal=Nature|date=1990|volume=344|pages=734–741|doi=10.1038/344734a0|pmid=2330029|issue=6268|bibcode=1990Natur.344..734S|s2cid=4370167}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sugihara|first1=George|last2=May|first2=Robert|last3=Ye|first3=Hao|last4=Hsieh|first4=Chih-hao|last5=Deyle|first5=Ethan|last6=Fogarty|first6=Michael|last7=Munch|first7=Stephan|title=Detecting Causality in Complex Ecosystems|journal=Science|date=2012|volume=338|issue=6106|pages=496–500|doi=10.1126/science.1227079|pmid=22997134|bibcode=2012Sci...338..496S|s2cid=19749064|doi-access=free}}</ref>}}
| thesis_title = Investigations towards an understanding of superconductivity
| thesis_url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/26564216
| thesis_year = 1959
|notable_students  = [[Martin Nowak]] (postdoc)<ref name=Tilman1994>{{Cite journal | last1 = Tilman | first1 = D. |author-link1=G. David Tilman| last2 = May | first2 = R. M. |author-link2=Robert May, Baron May of Oxford| last3 = Lehman | first3 = C. L. | last4 = Nowak | first4 = M. A.|author-link4=Martin Nowak | title = Habitat destruction and the extinction debt | doi = 10.1038/371065a0 | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 371 | pages = 65 | year = 1994 |bibcode = 1994Natur.371...65T | issue=6492| s2cid = 4308409 }}</ref>
|known_for         = [[Logistic map]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gravel | first1 = Dominique | last2 = Massol | first2 = François | last3 = Leibold | first3 = Mathew A. | year = 2016| title = Stability and complexity in model meta-ecosystems | journal = Nature Communications | volume = 7 | article-number = 12457| doi=10.1038/ncomms12457| pmid = 27555100 | bibcode = 2016NatCo...712457G| pmc = 4999499 }}</ref> stability-complexity studies<ref>{{Cite journal|last=May|first=Robert M.|date=18 August 1972|title=Will a Large Complex System be Stable?|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=238|issue=5364|pages=413–414|doi=10.1038/238413a0|pmid=4559589|bibcode=1972Natur.238..413M|s2cid=4262204}}</ref>
|influences        = 
|influenced        =
|awards            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Crafoord Prize]] (1996)
* [[Balzan Prize]]
* [[Copley Medal]]
* [[Dirac Medal and Lecture|UNSW Dirac Medal]] (2011)
* [[Life Peer]]age
* [[Order of Merit]]
* [[Companion of the Order of Australia]]
* [[Pawsey Medal]] (1967)
* [[Knight Bachelor]]
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]
* [[Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering]]<ref name="List of Fellows">{{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|website=raeng.org.uk|publisher=[[Royal Academy of Engineering]]}}</ref> (2005)}}
|signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
|footnotes         =
| spouse = {{marriage|Judith Feiner, Lady May|1962}}<ref name=whoswho/>
| website = {{URL|http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/view/may_r.htm}}
}}
}}

'''Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford''' (8 January 1936 – 28 April 2020) was an Australian scientist who was [[Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government|Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government]], [[List of Presidents of the Royal Society|President of the Royal Society]],<ref>{{Cite journal
|last1=Bradbury|first1=Jane|title=Sir Robert May: A new face at the Royal Society|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(05)73556-X|journal=[[The Lancet]]|volume=356|issue=9227|pages=406–736|year=2000|pmid=10972381|s2cid=34829440}}</ref> and a professor at the [[University of Sydney]] and [[Princeton University]]. He held joint professorships at the [[University of Oxford]] and [[Imperial College London]]. He was also a [[Crossbencher|crossbench]] member of the [[House of Lords]] from 2001 until his retirement in 2017.

May was a [[Fellow]] of [[Merton College, Oxford]], and an appointed member of the council of the [[British Science Association]]. He was also a member of the advisory council for the [[Campaign for Science and Engineering]].<ref name="CaSE Advisory Council">{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm |title=Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering |access-date=11 February 2011}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
May was born in Sydney on 8 January 1936, to lawyer<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/May_Robert.html|title=Robert May (1936 - 2020)|website=[[mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk]]}}</ref> Henry Wilkinson May and Kathleen Mitchell (née McCredie),<ref>Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 148th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2011, p. 1058</ref><ref>Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Dod's Parliamentary Companion Ltd, ed. Helen Haxell, 2009, p. 766</ref> who divorced when he was seven years old.<ref name=whoswho/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/apr/29/robert-may-bob-may-lord-may-obituary|title=Lord May of Oxford obituary|first=Georgina|last=Ferry|newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 April 2020|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> His father was of prosperous middle-class Northern Irish origin, and his mother was the daughter of a Scottish engineer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/lord-robert-may-physicist-and|title=Lord Robert May, physicist and ecologist &#124; Australian Academy of Science|website=www.science.org.au}}</ref> May was educated at [[Sydney Boys High School]].<ref name=whoswho/> He then attended the [[University of Sydney]], where he studied [[chemical engineering]] and [[theoretical physics]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] 1956) and received a [[PhD]] in [[theoretical physics]] in 1959.<ref name=phd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Robert McCredie |last=May |title=Investigations towards an understanding of superconductivity |publisher=University of Sydney |date=1959 |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/26564216 |website=trove.nla.gov.au|oclc=221204076}}</ref> He was a patron of the Sydney High School Old Boys Union.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shsobu.org.au/our-patrons/|title=Patrons|date=9 February 2008}}</ref>

==Career and research==
===Career===
[[File:Logistic map.gif|thumb|The [[logistic map]], pictured here, was a seminal discovery by May that demonstrated how even a simple equation could result in [[Chaos theory|chaos]].|alt=|left]]
Early in his career, May developed an interest in animal [[population dynamics]] and the relationship between complexity and stability in [[community ecology|natural communities]].<ref>{{Cite journal
| last1 = May | first1 = Robert M.
| title = Simple mathematical models with very complicated dynamics
| journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]]
| volume = 261
| issue = 5560
| pages = 459–467
| year = 1976
| pmid = 934280
 | doi=10.1038/261459a0
| bibcode = 1976Natur.261..459M| hdl = 10338.dmlcz/104555
| s2cid = 2243371
| hdl-access = free
}}</ref><ref name=googlescholar>{{Google scholar id}}</ref> He was able to make major advances in the field of population biology through the application of mathematical techniques. His work played a key role in the development of [[theoretical ecology]] through the 1970s and 1980s. He also applied these tools to the study of disease and to the study of [[biodiversity]].

May was Gordon MacKay Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at [[Harvard University]] (1959–61) and returned to the [[University of Sydney]] (1962) as senior lecturer, reader, and professor (1969–72) in [[theoretical physics]]. From 1973 until 1988, he was Class of 1977 Professor of Zoology at [[Princeton University]], serving as chairman of the University Research Board 1977{{Ndash}}88. From 1988 until 1995, he held a [[Royal Society]] Research Professorship jointly at [[Imperial College London]] and the [[University of Oxford]], where he became a fellow of [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]] and a [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge)|Master of Arts]].{{when|date=May 2017}} He was [[Government Chief Scientific Adviser (United Kingdom)|Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government]] and head of the [[Office of Science and Technology]] (1995–2000), and president of the [[Royal Society]] (2000–2005).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Krebs|first1=Lord (John)|last2=Hassell|first2=Michael|last3=Godfray|first3=Sir Charles|date=2021|title=Lord Robert May of Oxford OM. 8 January 1936—28 April 2020|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=71|pages=375–398 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2021.0007 |s2cid=235598938 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Public life===
May held subsidiary appointments as executive trustee of the [[Nuffield Foundation]], member of the board of the [[United Kingdom Sports Institute]], foundation trustee of the [[Gates Scholarship|Gates Trust]] ([[University of Cambridge]]), chairman of the board of trustees of the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]], trustee of the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]], independent member of the [[Joint Nature Conservation Committee]], trustee of [[World Wide Fund for Nature|World Wildlife Fund-UK]], president of the [[British Ecological Society]], and member of the [[Committee on Climate Change]].

In 1996, May asked [[Ig Nobel]] to stop awarding prizes to British scientists because this might lead the public to treat worthwhile research less seriously (see [[Ig Nobel#Reception|Criticism of Ig Nobel]]).

===Climate change co-operation===
Although an [[atheism|atheist]] since age 11, May stated that religion may help society deal with climate change. While referring to what he believed to be a rigid structure of fundamentalist religion, he stated that the co-operational aspects of non-fundamentalist religion may in fact help with climate change. When asked if religious leaders should be doing more to persuade people to [[climate change mitigation|combat climate change]], he stated that it was absolutely necessary.<ref>Richard Alleyne, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090908155730/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/richard-alleyne/6146656/Maybe-religion-is-the-answer-claims-atheist-scientist.html "Maybe religion is the answer" claims-atheist-scientist], The Daily Telegraph, 7 September 2009]</ref> May also estimated that there may be approximately 7 million species present in the Earth, both animal and plant combined.

===Awards and honours===
May was appointed [[Knight Bachelor]] in 1996,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54255 |date=30 December 1995 |page=2 |supp=y}}</ref> and a [[Companion of the Order of Australia]] in 1998. In 2001, on the recommendation of the [[House of Lords Appointments Commission]], he was created a [[life peer]]. He was one of the first fifteen peers to be elevated in this manner. After his initial preference for "Baron May of [[Woollahra, New South Wales|Woollahra]]" failed an objection from the Protocol Office of the Australian [[Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia)|Prime Minister's Department]], he chose the style and title '''Baron May of Oxford''', of [[Oxford]] in the [[Oxfordshire|County of Oxfordshire]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56282 |date=23 July 2001 |page=8681}}</ref><ref>Annabel Crabb, ''Good Lord, he said what?'',''[[The Sunday Age]]'', 20 November 2005</ref> He was made a member of the [[Order of Merit]] in 2002.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56746 |date=8 November 2002 |page=13557}}</ref>

He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1977<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert McCredie May|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-mccredie-may|access-date=19 October 2021|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|language=en}}</ref> and to the Fellowship of the [[Royal Society]] in 1979. He became a Corresponding Fellow of the [[Australian Academy of Science]] in 1991, a Foreign Member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] in 1992,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert May|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/52842.html|access-date=19 October 2021|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2001,<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+McCredie+May&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=19 October 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> a member of the [[Academia Europaea]] in 1994, and Fellow of the [[Royal Society of New South Wales]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fellows of RSNSW |url=http://royalsoc.org.au/society/fellows.htm |publisher=RSNSW |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> 

In 2005 he was appointed an Honorary [[Fellow]] of the [[Royal Academy of Engineering]].<ref name="List of Fellows"/> In 2009 Lord May became only the 7th ever Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building (HonFAIB).<ref>The first six honorary fellows of the Australian Institute of Building (HonFAIB) are: HRH Prince Philip, Sir Eric Neil AC CVO, Janet Holmes a'Court AC, James Service AO, Sir Laurence Street AC KCMG QC, and Sir John Holland AC [vale]. Subsequent appointments are Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO and Dr Kenneth Michael AC. {{Cite web |url=http://www.aib.org.au/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=AIB/ccms.r?pageid=10068 |title=Life and Honorary Fellows |publisher=[[Australian Institute of Building]] |access-date=21 April 2014}}</ref> He received honorary degrees from universities including [[University of Uppsala|Uppsala]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/traditions/prizes/honorary-doctorates/|title=Honorary doctorates - Uppsala University, Sweden|first=David|last=Naylor|website=www.uu.se|date=9 June 2023 }}</ref>(1990), [[Yale]] (1993), [[University of Sydney|Sydney]] (1995), [[Princeton University|Princeton]] (1996), and the [[ETH Zurich|Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich]] (2003). He was awarded the Weldon Memorial Prize by the [[University of Oxford]] (1980), an [[MacArthur Fellows Program|Award]] by the [[MacArthur Foundation]] (1984), the [[Linnean Medal|Medal]] of the [[Linnean Society of London]] (1991), the Marsh Christian Prize (1992), the Frink Medal by the [[Zoological Society of London]] (1995), the [[Crafoord Prize]] (1996), the [[Balzan Prize]] (1998) for Biodiversity and the [[Copley Medal]] by the [[Royal Society]] (2007) and the [[Lord Lewis Prize]] by the [[Royal Society of Chemistry]] (2008).<ref name="Lord Lewis Prize 2008 e625">{{cite web | title=Lord May delivers inaugural Lord Lewis Prize lecture | publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry | date=2009-03-04 | url=https://www.rsc.org/news-events/articles/2009/03-march/lord-lewis/ | access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>

==Personal life==
During his [[postdoctoral research]] at the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics at Harvard University as Gordon MacKay Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, between 1959 and 1961, May met his wife, Judith Feiner,<ref name=whoswho/> a native of [[Manhattan]].<ref name="AAS">{{cite web|url=http://www.science.org.au/scientists/interviews/m/may.html|title=Lord Robert May|publisher=Australian Academy of Science}}</ref><ref>May, Robert McCredie (2001) [https://books.google.com/books?id=BDA5-ipCLt4C&pg=PR8 ''Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems''], [[Princeton University Press]] {{ISBN|978-0-691-08861-7}}</ref> The Mays had a daughter, Naomi.<ref name="AAS"/>

May died at a nursing home in Oxford of [[pneumonia]] complicated by [[Alzheimer's disease]] on 28 April 2020, aged 84.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/apr/29/robert-may-former-uk-chief-scientist-led-chaos-theory-lord-dies-aged-84|title=Robert May, former UK chief scientist and chaos theory pioneer, dies aged 84|date=29 April 2020|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=29 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/science/robert-may-dead.html|date=12 May 2020|access-date=12 May 2020|title=Robert May, an Uncontainable 'Big Picture' Scientist, Dies at 84|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of presidents of the Royal Society]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category-inline}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040407031635/http://www.af-info.or.jp/eng/honor/hot/enr-may.html Profile of Robert May: the Recipient of the 2001 Blue Planet Prize ]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050315035945/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0307-03.htm Bush Accused of "Fiddling While World Burns" by Ignoring Climate Change]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,3907246,00.html A commentary on Robert May's request to Ignobel by The Guardian]
*[http://royalsociety.org/publication.asp?year=2005&id=2181 Speech made at the end of Lord May's presidency of the Royal Society]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/05/090513_theforum_030509.shtml Audio: Robert May in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show] [[The Forum (BBC World Service)|''The Forum'']]
*{{YouTube|oi_Ss4WmZTY|Video: Interview with Cambridge University Television following the 2011 Darwin College Lecture Series}}
*[http://www.aib.org.au The Australian Institute of Building ]
*[http://abel.harvard.edu/archive/118r_spring_05/docs/may.pdf abel.harvard.edu]
*[https://www.smh.com.au/national/government-scientist-with-vivid-and-colourful-turn-of-phrase-20200430-p54on7.html Bob May: the government scientist with a colourful turn of phrase] (''[[The Sydney Morning Herald|Sydney Morning Herald]]'' obituary)

{{S-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=Sir [[William Stewart (scientist)|William Stewart]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government]]|years=1995–2000}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir [[David King (scientist)|David King]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Aaron Klug]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Royal Society]]|order=59th|years=2000–2005}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Martin Rees]]}}
{{s-break}}

{{S-end}}

{{Royal Society presidents 1900s}}
{{Copley Medallists 2001-2050}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Robert McCredie}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Chief Scientific Advisers to HM Government]]
[[Category:Australian fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science]]
[[Category:Peers recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission|May of Oxford]]
[[Category:Crossbench life peers]]
[[Category:Australian life peers]]
[[Category:Australian Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Australian members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Australia]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Presidents of the British Science Association]]
[[Category:Australian zoologists]]
[[Category:British ecologists]]
[[Category:British zoologists]]
[[Category:Australian ecologists]]
[[Category:Australian atheists]]
[[Category:Mathematical ecologists]]
[[Category:Theoretical biologists]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Europaea]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Physics]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Academics of Imperial College London]]
[[Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:People educated at Sydney Boys High School]]
[[Category:University of Sydney alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Sydney]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:British atheists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales]]
[[Category:Trustees of museums]]
[[Category:Santa Fe Institute people]]
[[Category:Australian physicists]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014]]
[[Category:Presidents of the British Ecological Society]]