B. S. Haldane, who introduced him to problems of linkage in human genetics in which field he was able to bring his skills as a statistician to bear. He invented some of the mathematical methods used to map human genes. In 1955, he invented the "gene counting" method of inferring gene frequencies from the frequencies of genotypes in populations. This was an early example of the EM Algorithm, over 20 years before its introduction by Dempster, Laird and Rubin. He gave a more general discussion of the gene-counting method and its statistical properties in 1957. Smith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1945. He was a member of the Genetical Society (serving as Treasurer), the International Biometric Society (British Region), serving as President 1971–1972, and the International Statistical Institute. Other interests He was a member of the advisory committee to the Anti-Concorde Project. Family In 1957 he married Piroska Vermes (1921–2000), known as 'Piri'. They had one son, who survived them. Piri's father, Dr. Paul Vermes (1897–1968), was a Hungarian refugee who became a professional mathematician at the age of 50. See also BEST theorem References The Detection of Linkage in Human Genetics, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), Vol. 15, No. 2. (1953), pp. 153–192. External links E. Thompson: "1953 An unrecognized summit in human genetic linkage analysis" (abstract) E. Thompson: "1953 An unrecognized summit in human genetic linkage analysis" (paper) Catalogue of the Smith papers held at UCL Archives 1917 births 2002 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Modern synthesis (20th century) People from Leicester British conscientious objectors Biostatisticians English geneticists English statisticians 20th-century English mathematicians Academics of University College London People educated at University College School People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys British Quakers