Alison Harcourt facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alison Harcourt
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Alison Doig in 1965
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Alison Grant Doig
24 November 1929 Colac, Victoria, Australia
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| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Known for | Branch and bound algorithm |
| Spouse(s) | Richard Harcourt |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Statistics, linear programming |
| Institutions | London School of Economics University of Melbourne |
Alison Grant Harcourt (born 24 November 1929) is an Australian mathematician and statistician. She is famous for helping to create the branch and bound algorithm. This happened while she was working at the London School of Economics.
Alison Harcourt also helped set up the "poverty line" in Australia. This line helps measure how many people are living in poverty. She also helped improve how candidates are listed in Australian elections. This makes the process fairer.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Alison Doig was born in Colac, Victoria, Australia, in 1929. Her father, Keith Doig, was a doctor and a football player. He was a hero in World War I. Her mother, Louie Grant, came from Scotland. Louie's brother was the famous physicist Sir Kerr Grant.
Alison went to school at Colac West State School and Colac High School. She also attended Fintona Girls' School. After high school, she went to the University of Melbourne. There, she earned a degree in mathematics. Then she got another degree, this time in physics.
While studying for her Master of Arts degree, she focused on statistics. During this time, she developed a special method. It was for something called integer linear programming.
Working at the London School of Economics
Because of her great work in linear programming, Alison started working at the London School of Economics (LSE). This was in the late 1950s.
In 1960, Alison Doig and another mathematician, Ailsa Land, wrote an important paper. It was published in an economics journal. Their paper described the branch and bound algorithm. This algorithm helps solve very difficult math problems. It is a key idea behind many modern computer programs. These programs are used to solve complex planning problems.
Return to the University of Melbourne
In 1963, Alison Doig came back to Melbourne. She started working at the University of Melbourne. She became a senior lecturer in statistics there.
In the mid-1960s, she joined a special team. This team was led by a sociologist named Ronald Henderson. They wanted to figure out how much poverty in Australia there was. In 1973, the team created the Henderson Poverty Line. This line showed the money a family of four needed for basic things. Since 1979, this poverty line has been updated regularly. It helps track poverty in Australia.
In 1970, Alison Harcourt took a break to study in Sweden. There, she wrote two papers about chemistry. She wrote them with her husband, Richard Harcourt, who was a chemist.
In 1975, there was a big political event in Australia. Alison Harcourt and another statistician, Malcolm Clark, noticed something odd. The order of political parties on election papers seemed strange. They found that certain parties always appeared at the top.
Harcourt and Clark told a special committee about this. Their findings led to a change in the law in 1984. A new, fairer method was introduced. It used a double randomisation process to order candidates. This made sure the order was truly random.
Alison Harcourt retired from the University of Melbourne in 1994. But she still works there part-time. She teaches statistics to students.
In October 2018, Alison Harcourt was named Senior Victorian Australian of the Year. In December 2018, the University of Melbourne gave her a special honorary Doctor of Science degree.
In June 2019, she received a high honor. She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia. This was for her amazing work in mathematics and computer science.
See also
In Spanish: Alison Harcourt para niños
