Ross Ihaka | |
---|---|
Ihaka at the 2010 New Zealand Open Source Awards | |
Born | George Ross Ihaka 1954 (age 67–68) |
Alma mater | University of Auckland University of California, Berkeley (PhD) |
Known for | R programming language |
Awards | Pickering Medal (2008) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Statistical computing |
Institutions | University of Auckland |
Thesis | Rūaumoko (1985) |
Doctoral advisor | David R. Brillinger[1] |
Website | www |
George Ross Ihaka (born 1954[2]) is a New Zealand statistician who was an Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Auckland until his retirement in 2017.[3] Alongside Robert Gentleman, he is one of the creators of the R programming language.[4][5][6] In 2008, Ihaka received the Pickering Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, for his work on R.[7]
Ihaka completed his undergraduate education at the University of Auckland, and obtained his PhD in 1985 from the University of California, Berkeley supervised by David R. Brillinger.[1] His thesis was on statistical modelling for seismic interferometry and was titled Rūaumoko, after the god of earthquakes, volcanoes and seasons in Māori mythology.[1][8][9]
As of 2010, he was working on a new statistical programming language based on Lisp.[10][11] The Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland started a public lecture series in his honour in 2017.[12]
Ihaka is of Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne and Ngati Pākehā (New Zealand European) descent.[6][13]