| Sir Alfred William Flux | |
| Honorific Suffix: | CB |
| Birth Date: | 8 April 1867 |
| Birth Place: | Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK |
| Death Date: | 16 July 1942 |
| Death Place: | Faxe Ladeplads, Zealand, Denmark |
| Field: | Economics, statistics |
| Work Institutions: | Manchester University, McGill University |
| Alma Mater: | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Prizes: | Guy Medal (silver, 1921) (gold, 1930) |
Sir Alfred William Flux, (8 April 1867 – 16 July 1942) was a British economist and statistician.
Flux was born in the Landport district of Portsmouth in 1867, the son of a cement maker. He attended Portsmouth Grammar School then studied mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was a Senior Wrangler in 1887 (sharing the honour in a tie with three others). While at Cambridge he became friends with Alfred Marshall, who interested him in economics. He was a foundation member of the Economic Society (1890). In 1893 he was appointed as Cobden Lecturer in Political Economy at Owens College, Manchester[1] and from then until 1908 taught economics, at Manchester and then at McGill University, Montreal.[2] In 1897, while in Manchester he married Harriet Emily Hansen, a Danish woman. He served as secretary of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1900–1901.
Flux returned to London in 1908 to take up a post as advisor to the Commercial, Labour and Statistics Department. In 1918, he was appointed Head of the Statistics Department of the Board of Trade.[3] The Royal Statistical Society awarded him the Guy Medal in Silver in 1921 and in Gold in 1930. He also served as President of the Society between 1928 and 1930.[4]
Flux retired to Denmark in 1932 and was knighted in 1934. He died of pneumonia in 1942, aged 75.[3]