Obituaries Australia

Emeritus Professor Edward James (Ted) Hannan, the eminent Australian statistician, died suddenly in Canberra on January 7, aged 72.

Professor Hannan was born in Melbourne on January 29, 1921, educated at Xavier College and, after active service in New Guinea during World War II, at Melbourne University. While undertaking postgraduate economic research at the Australian National University his mathematical talents were recognised and his scholarly interests were directed towards mathematical statistics. He was awarded his PhD by the ANU in 1956.

In 1959 he was appointed the first Professor of Statistics at the ANU School of General Studies, where he remained until 1970 when he transferred to the ANU Institute of Advanced Studies. He was named Emeritus Professor upon his retirement in 1986, and continued his research until his death.

He was the author of more than 130 papers and four influential books, and was collaborating on a fifth at the time of his death.

He was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1970, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 1980, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Fellow of the Econometric Society, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and Member of the International Statistical Society. He was awarded the Lyle Medal of the Australian Academy of Science in 1979, and the Pitman Medal of the Statistical Society of Australia in 1986.

He is survived by his wife, Irene, four children and six grandchildren.