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| Olgierd Zienkiewicz | |
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| Personal information | |
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| Name | Olgierd Zienkiewicz |
| Nationality | British |
| Birth date | May 18, 1921 |
| Birth place | Caterham, UK |
| Work | |
| Engineering Discipline | Structural engineer |
| Institution memberships | Institution of Structural Engineers |
| Significant advance | finite element method in structural mechanics |
| Significant Awards | IStructE Gold Medal |
Olgierd Cecil Zienkiewicz, CBE, FREng, FRS (born 18 May 1921 in Caterham, England) is a British academic, mathematician, and mechanical engineer. He is one of the early pioneers of the finite element method.[1]
Zienkiewicz is notable for having recognized the general potential for using the finite element method to resolve problems in areas outside the area of solid mechanics. The idea behind finite elements design is to develop tools based in computational mechanics schemes that can be useful to designers, not solely for research purposes. His books on the Finite Element Method were the first to present the subject and to this day remain the standard reference texts. He also founded the first journal dealing with computational mechanics in 1968 (International Journal of Numerical Methods in Engineering), which is still the major journal for the field of Numerical Computations.[2]
The international range of Zienkiewicz' academic experiences has been geographically diverse. He is today Professor Emeritus at the University of Wales, Swansea; and other teaching positions have included:
- International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering at CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain -- Professor of Numerical Methods in Engineering
- Technical University of Catalunya at Barcelona, Spain -- UNESCO Chair of Numerical Methods in Engineering
- University of Texas, Austin -- Joe C Walter Chair of Engineering.
Honours
Zienkiewicz has received honorary degrees from Ireland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, China, Poland, Scotland, Wales, France, England, Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong, Hungary and the United States.[2]
He was elected to a number of learned societies,[2] including:
- Royal Society
- Royal Academy of Engineering, 1979
- United States National Academy of Engineering (foreign member)
- Polish Academy of Science
- Italian National Academy of Sciences
- Chinese National Academy of Sciences
He has been the recipient of many honors, awards, and medals.[2] including
- Commander of the British Empire
- Royal Medal (Royal Society)
- Carl Friedrich Gauss Medal (West German Academy of Science)
- Nathan Newmark Medal (American Society of Civil Engineers)
- Newton Gauss Medal (International Association for Computational Mechanics)
- Gold Medal (Institution for Mathematics and its Applications)
- Gold Medal (Institution of Structural Engineers)
- Timoshenko Medal (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
- Prince Philip Medal (Royal Academy of Engineering),
References
- O.C. Zienkiewicz, As I Remember, Timoshenko Medal acceptance speech presented at the ASME applied mechanics annual dinner in 1998.
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