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 characterised by his remarkable ability to reduce complex problems to their essential simplicities. His achievements were recognised by the award of numerous major international prizes. May also served as government chief scientific advisor (UK) between 1995 and 2000, and as president of the Royal Society between 2000 and 2005.
This memoir was commissioned by Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society and is published here with minor amendments. It was published by the Royal Society online on 23 June 2021. It was also published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol.33, no.1, 2022. It was written by Lord (John) Krebs, Michael Hassell and Sir Charles Godfray.
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