Robert May, Baron May of Oxford
E563554
Australian scientist
British scientist
human
life peer
physicist
population biologist
theoretical ecologist
Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, was a prominent Australian-born theoretical ecologist and physicist who became a leading figure in population biology and served as the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and President of the Royal Society.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Robert May, Baron May of Oxford canonical | 3 |
| Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6023540 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford Context triple: [Roy M. Anderson, hasAcademicAdvisor, Robert May, Baron May of Oxford]
-
A.
Lord Browne of Madingley
Lord Browne of Madingley is a British businessman and former chief executive of BP, noted for his influential role in the global energy industry and public service in engineering and education.
-
B.
John Widgery, Baron Widgery
John Widgery, Baron Widgery was a British judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and is best known for leading the controversial Widgery Tribunal into the events of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland.
-
C.
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke is a veteran British Conservative politician who has held several senior Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer, and is known for his pro-European views and long parliamentary career.
-
D.
R. A. Butler
R. A. Butler was a prominent mid-20th-century British Conservative politician and reformer, noted for shaping postwar social and educational policy and helping define the party’s moderate, consensus-driven direction.
-
E.
Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden
Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden is a British noble title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom associated with former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and his family.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford Target entity description: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, was a prominent Australian-born theoretical ecologist and physicist who became a leading figure in population biology and served as the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and President of the Royal Society.
-
A.
Lord Browne of Madingley
Lord Browne of Madingley is a British businessman and former chief executive of BP, noted for his influential role in the global energy industry and public service in engineering and education.
-
B.
John Widgery, Baron Widgery
John Widgery, Baron Widgery was a British judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and is best known for leading the controversial Widgery Tribunal into the events of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland.
-
C.
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke is a veteran British Conservative politician who has held several senior Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer, and is known for his pro-European views and long parliamentary career.
-
D.
R. A. Butler
R. A. Butler was a prominent mid-20th-century British Conservative politician and reformer, noted for shaping postwar social and educational policy and helping define the party’s moderate, consensus-driven direction.
-
E.
Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden
Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden is a British noble title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom associated with former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and his family.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (55)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Australian scientist
ⓘ
British scientist ⓘ human ⓘ life peer ⓘ physicist ⓘ population biologist ⓘ theoretical ecologist ⓘ |
| academicDegree |
Bachelor of Science in Physics
ⓘ
Doctor of Philosophy in Theoretical Physics ⓘ |
| awardReceived |
Blue Planet Prize
ⓘ
Companion of the Order of Australia ⓘ Copley Medal ⓘ Knight Bachelor ⓘ Royal Medal ⓘ |
| birthCountry | Australia ⓘ |
| birthDate | 1936-01-08 ⓘ |
| birthPlace | Sydney ⓘ |
| causeOfDeath | pneumonia ⓘ |
| coAuthor | Roy M. Anderson ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship |
Australia
ⓘ
United Kingdom ⓘ |
| deathDate | 2020-04-28 ⓘ |
| educatedAt | University of Sydney ⓘ |
| familyName | May ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
complex systems
ⓘ
epidemiology ⓘ mathematical biology ⓘ physics ⓘ population biology ⓘ theoretical ecology ⓘ |
| fullName |
Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford
ⓘ
linked to:
Robert May, Baron May of Oxford
|
| givenName | Robert ⓘ |
| honorificTitle | Baron May of Oxford ⓘ |
| knownFor |
application of nonlinear dynamics to population biology
ⓘ
influential work in theoretical ecology ⓘ research on biodiversity and ecosystem stability ⓘ work on chaos in ecological systems ⓘ |
| languageSpoken | English ⓘ |
| memberOf |
Academia Europaea
ⓘ
Australian Academy of Science ⓘ Royal Society ⓘ United States National Academy of Sciences ⓘ
linked to:
National Academy of Sciences
|
| notableWork |
Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control
ⓘ
Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems ⓘ |
| positionHeld |
Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government
ⓘ
Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government from 1995 to 2000 ⓘ Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Prime Minister ⓘ Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology at Princeton University ⓘ President of the Royal Society ⓘ President of the Royal Society from 2000 to 2005 ⓘ Professor at the University of Sydney ⓘ Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford ⓘ |
| workLocation |
Oxford
ⓘ
Princeton ⓘ Sydney ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford Description of subject: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, was a prominent Australian-born theoretical ecologist and physicist who became a leading figure in population biology and served as the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and President of the Royal Society.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford