Engineers
Richard Courant
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German-American mathematician, founder of what is now the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. His research covered real analysis, mathematical physics, the calculus of variations and partial differential equations. His name is attached to the finite element method through his 1943 paper on the numerical treatment of the plane torsion problem for multiply-connected domains.
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In Field
A mathematician by training, not a civil engineer; associated here through his 1943 numerical-methods paper, the mathematical root of the Finite Element Method used throughout structural and civil engineering.
Invented
His 1943 paper on the plane torsion problem is the earliest work generally credited toward the finite element method, alongside Hrennikoff's independent lattice-analogy approach; the term "finite element" itself was coined later by Ray W. Clough (1960).
Sources
1. Richard Courant (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead sectionQuote, lead section
Richard Courant (January 8, 1888 - January 27, 1972) was a German-American mathematician. He is best known by the general public for the book What is Mathematics?, co-written with Herbert Robbins.
1. Richard Courant (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFinite element method paragraphQuote, Finite element method paragraph
Courant's name is also attached to the finite element method, with his numerical treatment of the plain torsion problem for multiply-connected domains, published in 1943. This method is now one of the standard ways to solve partial differential equations numerically.
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