Mathematicians recognised by the Australian Mathematical Society

The Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) has awarded Professor Peter Taylor its highest honour, the George Szekeres Medal, and Dr Nicholas Beaton, Professor Jan De Gier, and Professor Tony Guttmann were awarded the prize for best paper.

Professor Taylor is a globally respected stochastic modelling researcher, and is known for the contributions he’s made to the fields of applied probability and operations research. As well as being a professor at the University of Melbourne, he is the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS).

In honouring Peter, AustMS cited his many contributions to a variety of different areas. Those include the control of telecommunications systems and data networks, the management of natural resources, mechanism design in economics, the calculation of the probabilities of extreme rainfall and bushfire events, understanding patient flow in healthcare systems and new `disruptive technologies' such as blockchains. He has also maintained a passion, which continues to this day, in understanding the behaviour of queues.