1880-1949

British demographer and statistician who developed statistical methods for analyzing the dynamics of biological populations. Lotka formulated a growth law for two competing populations using differential equations that produced accurate modeling. His major book, Elements of Physical Biology, treated all biology from a mathematical-physical viewpoint. He was an early advocate of ecological concerns. He left science in 1924 and joined the statistical branch of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York, where he did research on life expectancy.