Peter Whittle (27 February 1927- 10 Agusut 2021)

We have heard today the sad news that Peter Whittle has died.

Peter was the first Churchill Professor of Mathematics for Operational Research, from 1967 until his retirement in 1994.

Besides his many deep contributions to statistics, operational research and probability, he was a warm and supportive colleague, who is greatly missed.

James Norris, 10 August 21

Frank Kelly writes:

Peter Whittle, who died on 10 August 2021, at 94 years of age, will be remembered as an outstanding pioneer across the fields of probability, statistics and optimization. He wrote a large number of important papers, but it is in his books that one can best appreciate the broad sweep of his achievements and the simplicity, unity and generality of his approach. His twelve major volumes covered times series, prediction, constrained optimization, dynamic programming, optimal control, stochastic systems, the foundations of probability theory and neural nets. Several of these works were ahead of their time: indeed some of his early works appear to have been written for the audience of today, such is the extent to which they anticipated and shaped subsequent developments. 

Professor Peter Whittle, obituary for the Royal Statistical Society
Professor Peter Whittle, draft memorial tribute for the National Academy of Engineering

January 2017 interview for INFORMS profile