August 13, 2007—Dr. Gilbert Strang was recently honored with the Peter Henrici Prize for his many original contributions to applied and numerical analysis. The selection committee commended Strang for his work with the following citation:
“Throughout his career, Gilbert Strang has been an original researcher and remarkable expositor in a broad range of fields of applied and numerical analysis, including finite element methods, linear algebra and matrix theory, and wavelets. His remarkable achievements epitomize the spirit of the award that honors his thesis advisor, Peter Henrici.”
The Henrici Prize was presented by Cleve Moler, President of SIAM, and is awarded for original contributions to applied analysis and numerical analysis and for exposition appropriate for applied mathematics and scientific computing. The award is intended to recognize broad and extended contributions to these subjects, more than a single outstanding work. The Peter Henrici Prize is awarded jointly by Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule-Zürich (ETHZ) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Strang received a monetary award and certificate.
Strang graduated from MIT and was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. He received his doctorate at UCLA and since then, has taught at MIT. Strang is currently Professor of Mathematics at MIT and an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College. He has been a Sloan Fellow and a Fairchild Scholar and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Strang has been an active member of the applied and computational mathematics community and has participated in SIAM activities for many years. Strang served as SIAM President during 1999 and 2000. He has published several textbooks and was Chair of the U.S. National Committee on Mathematics for 2003-2004.
The Henrici prize was presented on July 16, at ICIAM 2007, the 6th International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, held this year in Zürich, Switzerland. The selection committee included Beresford Parlett, Chair, University of California, Berkeley; Martin Gutknecht, ETHZ; Randall J. LeVeque, University of Washington; and Christoph Schwab, ETHZ.
The prize is named for Peter Henrici, one of the leading figures of numerical analysis and applied complete analysis of the postwar era. It is awarded every four years at either an ICIAM Conference or the SIAM Annual Meeting. SIAM, an international community of over 11,000 individual members, including applied and computational mathematicians, computer scientists, and other scientists and engineers. The Society advances these fields by publishing a series of premier journals and a variety of books, and producing a wide selection of conferences. More information about SIAM is available at www.siam.org.