Peter Sneath

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{short description|British microbiologist}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Peter H. A. Sneath

| image =

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| alt =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|11|17|df=yes}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|09|09|1923|11|17|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| thesis_title= The bacterial genus Chromobacterium

| thesis_year = 1959

| thesis_url = http://www.theses.com

| nationality = British

| alma_mater = University of Cambridge

| other_names =

| known_for = numerical taxonomy

| fields = microbiology

| workplaces =University of Leicester

| influences =

| influenced =

| prizes = Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite journal | last1 = Jones | first1 = D. | last2 = Grant | first2 = W. D. | title = Peter Henry Andrews Sneath. 17 November 1923 -- 9 September 2011 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2013.0008 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | year = 2013 | volume=59 | pages=337–357| doi-access = }}

| author_abbrev_bot = Sneath

}}

Peter Henry Andrews Sneath FRS, MD (17 November 1923 – September 9, 2011) was a British microbiologist who co-founded the field of numerical taxonomy, together with Robert R. Sokal. Sneath and Sokal wrote Principles of Numerical Taxonomy,{{cite book|last1=Sneath|first1=Peter H. A.|last2=Sokal|first2=Robert R.|title=Principles of numerical taxonomy|year=1963|publisher=W.H. Freeman|location=San Francisco|isbn=0-7167-0621-0|edition=7}} revised in 1973 as Numerical Taxonomy.{{cite book|first1=Peter H. A.|last1=Sneath|first2=Robert R.|last2=Sokal|title=Numerical taxonomy: the principles and practice of numerical classification|year=1973|publisher=Freeman|location=San Francisco|isbn=0-7167-0697-0}} Sneath reviewed the state of numerical taxonomy in 1995{{Cite journal | last1 = Sneath | first1 = P. H. A. | title = Thirty Years of Numerical Taxonomy | doi = 10.1093/sysbio/44.3.281 | journal = Systematic Biology | volume = 44 | issue = 3 | pages = 281–298 | year = 1995 }} and wrote some autobiographical notes in 2010.{{cite journal|last=Sneath|first=P. H. A.|title=Reflections on prokaryotic systematics|journal=The Bulletin of BISMiS|year=2010|volume=1|issue=1|pages=77–83|url=http://www.bergeys.org/bulletin/BulletinofBISMIS%201-1.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415110317/http://www.bergeys.org/bulletin/BulletinofBISMIS%201-1.pdf|archive-date=2012-04-15}}

A special issue of the journal Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, on microbial systematics, is dedicated to the memory of Peter Sneath.{{cite journal|journal=Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|volume=101|issue=1|year=2012|title=Special Issue on The BISMiS 2011 prokaryotic systematics, a vital discipline entering a period of transition|doi=10.1007/s10482-011-9674-y|pages=1–2|pmid=22080412 | last1 = Sutcliffe | first1 = IC | last2 = Trujillo | first2 = ME | last3 = Goodfellow | first3 = M|doi-access=free}}

{{botanist|Sneath|Sneath, Peter H.A.}}