predecessor successor death_date birth_place imagesize office primeminister birth_date term_start article_title term_end name
ian g. lythgoe cb dr. frsnz . mervyn probine cbe-msc phd -lrb- lds -rrb- fip 18 march 2013 christchurch , new zealand 150px chairman of the state services commission bill rowling , rob muldoon 30 march 1919 1975 robin m. williams
 1981 robert m. williams
robin m. williams

robert martin `` robin '' williams , cb , cbe -lrb- 30 march 1919 -- 18 march 2013 -rrb- was a chairman of the state services commission in new zealand from 1975 to 1981 .
he was vice chancellor at the university of otago from 1967 to 1972 and vice chancellor of the australian national university in canberra from 1973 to 1975 .
he studied in christchurch at christ 's college and then canterbury university college , graduating ma with first class honours in mathematics and mathematical physics , and studied under karl popper , then a refugee lecturer .
postwar he graduated from st. john 's college , cambridge with a ba -lrb- 1946 -rrb- and phd -lrb- 1949 -rrb- .
he held a ma and a phd degree , and an honorary lld degree .
he was in the applied mathematics laboratory of the department of scientific and industrial research , and worked on the manhattan project in 1944 -- 45 on the separation of uranium .
williams was born in christchurch , died at wellington in 2013 , aged 93 .
