Charles Roy Henderson

For other people named Charles Henderson, see Charles Henderson (disambiguation).

Charles Roy Henderson
Born	(1911-04-01)April 1, 1911 Coin, Iowa
Died	Urbana, Illinois
Nationality	American
Fields	Biostatistics Genetics
Institutions	Cornell University University of Illinois University of Guelph
Alma mater	Iowa State University
Doctoral advisor	Lenoy Nelson Hazel Oscar Kempthorne
Doctoral students	Shayle R. Searle
Known for	Best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) Mixed models Variance component estimation
Notable awards	Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences

Charles Roy Henderson ((1911-04-01)April 1, 1911 – March 14, 1989(1989-03-14)) was an American statistician and a pioneer in animal breeding — the application of quantitative methods for the genetic evaluation of domestic livestock. He developed mixed model equations to obtain best linear unbiased predictions of breeding values and, in general, any random effect. He invented three methods for the estimation of variance components in unbalanced settings of mixed models, and invented a method for constructing the inverse of Wright's numerator relationship matrix based on a simple list of pedigree information. He, with his Ph.D. student Shayle R. Searle, greatly extended the use of matrix notation in statistics. His methods are widely used by the domestic livestock industry throughout the world and are a cornerstone of linear model theory.

Henderson obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc.(nutrition) and Ph.D.(breeding) degrees at Iowa State University, where he was a student of Professor L. N. Hazel. Henderson joined the faculty of the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University in 1948, and headed the Animal Breeding division for nearly 30 years until he retired in 1976. After retiring from Cornell, he was a visiting professor at the University of Guelph and University of Illinois until his death. He completed his book in 1984 at the University of Guelph.

Honors and awards

• 1955, Senior Fulbright Research Scholar (New Zealand)
• 1964, Borden Award, American Dairy Science Association
• 1964, Animal Breeding and Genetics Award, American Society of Animal Science
• 1969, Fellow, American Statistical Association
• 1971, Morrison Award, American Society of Animal Science
• 1977, National Association of Animal Breeders Award, American Dairy Science Association
• 1980, Member of the Massey University Wellington
• 1981, Visiting professor at the University of California, Davis
• 1981, Hermann-von-Nathusius-Medaille in Gold of the German Society for Animal Production (DGfZ)
• 1981, Fellow, American Society of Animal Science
• 1982, Jay L. Lush Animal Breeding and Genetics Award, American Dairy Science Association
• 1984, Henry A. Wallace Award for Service to Agriculture, Iowa State University
• 1985, Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences

Selected bibliography

1990s

1980s

1970s

1960s

1950s

External links

• Charles Roy Henderson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Works by or about Charles Roy Henderson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir