Richard Peto facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir
Richard Peto
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| Born | 14 May 1943 |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Taunton's School |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA) Imperial College London (MSc) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medical Statistics, Clinical Trials, Epidemiology of Smoking. |
| Institutions | University of Oxford Green Templeton College, Oxford |
Sir Richard Peto (born 14 May 1943) is an important English scientist. He is a professor at the University of Oxford in England. He studies medical Statistics and Epidemiology. This means he uses numbers to understand health and diseases in large groups of people.
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Early Life and Education
Richard Peto went to Taunton's School in Southampton. Later, he studied science at Trinity College, Cambridge. He also earned a Master's degree in Statistics from Imperial College London.
Career and Discoveries
Sir Richard Peto has worked with many other scientists. A key person he worked with was Richard Doll. They started working together at the Medical Research Council in London.
In 1975, Sir Richard helped create the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) in Oxford. He is still a co-director there today. This unit helps run big studies to test new medicines and treatments.
One interesting idea named after him is Peto's paradox. This idea looks at why bigger animals, like whales, don't get cancer more often than smaller animals, even though they have many more cells.
Fighting Tobacco-Related Illnesses
Sir Richard Peto is a top expert on how tobacco use causes deaths. He has shown how dangerous smoking is for people's health. When he started his work with Richard Doll, many people in the UK were dying from smoking. Smoking was causing more than half of all early deaths in British men. His research has helped many countries understand and fight the dangers of smoking.
Awards and Recognition
In 1989, Sir Richard Peto became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very special honor for scientists. He received it for his work on something called meta-analysis. This is a way to combine results from many different studies to get a clearer answer.
In 1999, he was made a knight by the Queen. This was to recognize his great work in studying diseases and helping prevent cancer. He also received an honorary degree from Yale University in 2011.
Family Life
Sir Richard Peto has a brother named Julian Peto. Julian is also a well-known scientist who studies diseases. The two brothers have even worked together on some mathematical statistics, like the logrank test.
