Michael J. D. Powell

Michael James David Powell ( b. 1936 in London ) is a British mathematician.

Life

Powell earned a bachelor's degree as a doctor in 1979 (D. Sc.) At the University of Cambridge. He was also a professor.

He worked in the field of Numerical Mathematics, specifically to mathematical optimization and approximation and radial basis functions. His contribution to the quasi -Newton method is reflected in the name of Davidon - Fletcher -Powell algorithm resist ( with William Davidon, Roger Fletcher ).

In 1982 he was Dantzig Prize winner of the Mathematical Optimization Society. In 1983 he was Naylor Prize winner of the London Mathematical Society, which also awarded him the 1999 Senior Whitehead Prize. 2007 came the Catherine Richards Award of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications added.

He is a corresponding member of the Australian Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.

He was editor of the Journal for Numerical Analysis.

Writings (selection )

• Approximation Theory and Methods, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, 1981.