Professor Douglas Arnold receives 2023 Peter Henrici prize
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (2/10/2023) – Douglas Arnold, McKnight Presidential Professor in the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, has been selected for the 2023 Peter Henrici Prize in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of numerical analysis. The branch of mathematics is focused on the design, analysis, and validation of algorithms which can be implemented on computers to efficiently and accurately simulate physical systems and to solve other mathematical problems.
Jointly awarded by Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule-Zürich and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) once every four years, the Henrici Prize recognizes original contributions to applied analysis and numerical analysis and/or for exposition appropriate for applied mathematics and scientific computing. Prof. Arnold will be the seventh recipient of the award, cited for his "fundamental contributions of extraordinary originality, depth, and impact to the finite element analysis of partial differential equations, ranking amongst the classics in numerical analysis literature." The award will be presented to Prof. Arnold by Sven Leyffer – president of SIAM – at the 10th International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, to be held in Tokyo, Japan in summer 2023. Prof. Arnold will also deliver a plenary address at the congress.
“It is indisputable that numerical analysis has a huge impact on our lives, and that is certainly one reason that I chose to dedicate my career to it. But of perhaps even greater importance to me, is the structure and elegance which numerical analysis exhibits, at its best. Peter Henrici's writings are wonderful exemplars of this, and so it is a great joy for me to receive this prize in his memory,” Prof. Arnold says.
Prof. Arnold joined the University of Minnesota in 2001 as a faculty member in the School of Mathematics and as director of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, a post he held until 2008. In the following year he was named a McKnight Presidential Professor, awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and elected a foreign member of the Norwegian Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2009 and 2010, he went on to serve as the president of SIAM. He is also very involved in editorial work and scholarly publication ethics, has served on the editorial boards of many of the top journals in numerical analysis, and, since 2021, he serves as editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal Acta Numerica. A number of the numerical algorithms devised by Prof. Arnold have become widely-used tools in areas such as structural engineering, fluid mechanics, and climate modeling. At present, Arnold's effort are primarily devoted to the Finite Element Exterior Calculus, a new approach to numerical analysis which he initiated in 2002 in a plenary address at the International Congress of Mathematicians, and to his work as one of the Principal Investigators in the interdisciplinary Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves.