Renfrey Burnard (Ren) Potts AO (1925–2005) was an Australian mathematician and is notable for the Potts model and his achievements in: operations research, especially networks; transportation science, car-following and road traffic; Ising-type models in mathematical physics; difference equations; and robotics.
The fourth child of Gilbert MacDonald Potts and Lorna Potts (née West), named after family friend and medical doctor Renfrey Gershom Burnard, Potts was educated at Rose Park Primary School and Prince Alfred College, where his father was Second Master.
Potts was an outstanding lecturer who drew large audiences to his talks.
His sporting activities included long distance and marathon running, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton, bushwalking, and swimming.
He played both the piano and the clarinet and was a volunteer disc jockey at a local radio station.