Alfred J. Lotka - Life

Life

Lotka was born in Lwów, Austria-Hungary, formerly part of Poland. His parents, Jacques and Marie (Doebely) Lotka, were US nationals and he was educated internationally. He received an B. Sc. in 1901 at the University of Birmingham, England, he did graduate work 1901-02 at Leipzig University, he received an M.A. in 1909 at Cornell University and an D. Sc. at Birmingham University after his work there from 1909 to 1912.

Occupations
  • Assistant chemist for General Chemical Company (1902–1908, 1914–1919)
  • Patent examiner for US Patent Office (1909)
  • Assistant physicist for National Bureau of Standards (1909–1911)
  • Editor of the Scientific American Supplement (1911–1914)
  • Staff member at Johns Hopkins University (1922–1924)
  • Statistician for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York (1924 until his retirement in 1947)

In 1935, he married Romola Beattie. They had no children.

Honors
  • President of the Population Association of America (1938–1939)
  • President of the American Statistical Association (1942)
  • Vice president of the Union for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems
  • Chairman of the United States National Committee of the Union
  • Fellow of American Public Health Association
  • Fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics

He died in New York.

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