Robert M. May
E570053
Robert M. May was a prominent Australian theoretical ecologist and mathematical biologist known for his influential work on population dynamics, chaos theory in ecology, and the mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Robert M. May canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5823707 — 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 M. May Context triple: [Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control, author, Robert M. May]
-
A.
Lee R. Mayes
Lee R. Mayes is a film producer best known for his work on the comedy movie "White Chicks."
-
B.
James L. Massey
James L. Massey was an American information theorist and cryptographer known for his fundamental contributions to coding theory, stream ciphers, and the development of the Berlekamp–Massey algorithm.
-
C.
Charles B. Atwood
Charles B. Atwood was an American architect known for his influential work on Chicago’s late-19th-century architecture, including major contributions to the World’s Columbian Exposition and landmark buildings such as the Reliance Building.
-
D.
Robert L. Stewart
Robert L. Stewart is a former NASA astronaut and U.S. Army brigadier general best known as one of the first astronauts to perform an untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.
-
E.
Robert N. Fitch
Robert N. Fitch was a composer best known for writing the University of California fight song "Fight for California."
- 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 M. May Target entity description: Robert M. May was a prominent Australian theoretical ecologist and mathematical biologist known for his influential work on population dynamics, chaos theory in ecology, and the mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.
-
A.
Lee R. Mayes
Lee R. Mayes is a film producer best known for his work on the comedy movie "White Chicks."
-
B.
James L. Massey
James L. Massey was an American information theorist and cryptographer known for his fundamental contributions to coding theory, stream ciphers, and the development of the Berlekamp–Massey algorithm.
-
C.
Charles B. Atwood
Charles B. Atwood was an American architect known for his influential work on Chicago’s late-19th-century architecture, including major contributions to the World’s Columbian Exposition and landmark buildings such as the Reliance Building.
-
D.
Robert L. Stewart
Robert L. Stewart is a former NASA astronaut and U.S. Army brigadier general best known as one of the first astronauts to perform an untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.
-
E.
Robert N. Fitch
Robert N. Fitch was a composer best known for writing the University of California fight song "Fight for California."
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (71)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
human
ⓘ
life peer ⓘ mathematical biologist ⓘ physicist ⓘ theoretical ecologist ⓘ university teacher ⓘ |
| academicDegree |
Bachelor of Science
ⓘ
Doctor of Philosophy ⓘ |
| awardReceived |
Balzan Prize
ⓘ
Blue Planet Prize ⓘ Companion of the Order of Australia ⓘ Crafoord Prize ⓘ Knight Bachelor ⓘ Order of Merit ⓘ Royal Medal ⓘ |
| coAuthor | Roy M. Anderson ⓘ |
| countryOfBirth | Australia ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship |
Australia
ⓘ
United Kingdom ⓘ |
| countryOfDeath | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | 1936-01-08 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 2020-04-28 ⓘ |
| educatedAt |
University of Sydney
ⓘ
University of Sydney Faculty of Science ⓘ
linked to:
Faculty of Science, University of Sydney
|
| employer |
Harvard University
ⓘ
Imperial College London ⓘ Princeton University ⓘ University of Oxford ⓘ University of Sydney ⓘ |
| familyName | May ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
biodiversity
ⓘ
chaos theory in ecology ⓘ complex systems ⓘ conservation biology ⓘ epidemiology ⓘ mathematical biology ⓘ population dynamics ⓘ theoretical ecology ⓘ |
| fullName | Robert McCredie May ⓘ |
| givenName | Robert ⓘ |
| honorificPrefix |
Baron
ⓘ
Sir ⓘ |
| influenced |
mathematical epidemiology
ⓘ
modern theoretical ecology ⓘ |
| knownFor |
introduction of simple mathematical models leading to chaos in ecology
ⓘ
mathematical modeling of infectious diseases ⓘ mathematical modeling of population dynamics ⓘ research on biodiversity loss ⓘ work on the stability and complexity of ecological communities ⓘ |
| memberOf |
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
ⓘ
Australian Academy of Science ⓘ Pontifical Academy of Sciences ⓘ Royal Society ⓘ US National Academy of Sciences ⓘ
linked to:
National Academy of Sciences
|
| nobleTitle | Life peer in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ⓘ |
| notableWork |
Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control
ⓘ
Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems ⓘ |
| parliamentaryAffiliation | House of Lords ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth | Sydney ⓘ |
| placeOfDeath | Oxford ⓘ |
| politicalAffiliation | Crossbench ⓘ |
| positionHeld |
Chair of the UK Government’s Office of Science and Technology
ⓘ
Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government ⓘ President of the Royal Society ⓘ Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford ⓘ Royal Society Research Professor ⓘ |
| researchInterest |
host–parasite dynamics
ⓘ
human impacts on biodiversity ⓘ spread of emerging infectious diseases ⓘ stability of ecological networks ⓘ |
| title | Baron May of Oxford ⓘ |
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 M. May Description of subject: Robert M. May was a prominent Australian theoretical ecologist and mathematical biologist known for his influential work on population dynamics, chaos theory in ecology, and the mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.