Person
Pearson, Kenneth Robert (1943 - 2015)
FAA
- Born
- 21 August 1943
Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia - Died
- 12 May 2015
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Mathematician
Summary
Kenneth Pearson is a mathematician who is considered to be one of the few Australian academics who have had a significant on works economics. Between 1970 and 1989 Pearson was at La Trobe University where his research was on ring theory, especially skew polynomials and polynomial matrix identities involving computer-aided solutions to large systems of sparse equations. This led to him developing GEMPACK, economics modelling software that is used by over 600 major financial and banking organisations across the world. GEMPACK facilitates sophisticated economic analysis using thousands of variables and non-linear equations without the requirement for specialist computational expertise and allows easy transfer of models and results.
Details
Chronology
- 1963
- Education - BA (hons), University of Adelaide
- 1964 - 1965
- Career position - Tutor in Mathematics, University of Adelaide
- 1966
- Education - PhD, University of Adelaide
- 1966 - 1967
- Career position - Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Adelaide
- 1967
- Award - Fulbright-Hays Travel Grant
- 1967 - 1969
- Career position - Associate Professor of Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, U.S.A.
- 1970 - 1989
- Career position - Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, La Trobe University
- 1979 - 1984
- Career position - Deputy Editor, Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society
- 1982 - 1984
- Career position - Chairman, Department of Pure Mathematics, La Trobe University
- 1985 - 1987
- Career position - Visiting Senior Research Fellow in Economics, University of Melbourne
- 1990 - 1998
- Career position - Reader and Associate Professor of Mathematics, La Trobe University
- 1991 - 1998
- Career position - Visiting Reader and Associate Director, Centre for Policy Studies, Monash University
- 1992 - 2007
- Career position - Director, GEMPACK Software, Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University
- 1994 -
- Career position - Associate Editor, Computational Economics
- 1996 -
- Career position - GTAP Research Fellow, Centre for Global Trade Analysis, Purdue University, U.S.A.
- 1999 - 2014
- Career position - Professorial Fellow, Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University
- 2000 - 2004
- Career position - Deputy Director, Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University
- 2006
- Award - Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
- 2007
- Award - Inducted into Global Trade Analysis Program (GTAP) Hall of Fame
- 2007 - 2014
- Career position - Principal Researcher, Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University
- 2014
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Published resources
Journal Articles
- Dixon, Peter and Rimmer, Maureen, 'Kenneth Robert Pearson 1943 - 2015', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 42 (4) (2015), 228-31. Details
Newspaper Articles
- Dixon, Peter, Rimmer, Maureen and Hirst, John, 'Mathematician's 30-year winning tangent: Ken Pearson, software innovator 21-8-1943 - 12-5-2015', The Age (2015). https://www.theage.com.au/national/mathematicians-30year-winning-tangent-20150617-ghqley.html. Details
Resources
- 'Pearson, Kenneth Robert (19430821-20150512)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1772725. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 13 March 2018, Last modified: 3 July 2018