Michael J. D. Powell

Applied mathematician (1936–2015)

Michael Powell

FRS FAA

Born|

Michael James David Powell

(1936-07-29)29 July 1936

London

Died| 19 April 2015(2015-04-19) (aged 78)[2]
Education| Frensham Heights School
Eastbourne College
Alma mater| University of Cambridge (BA, ScD)[3]
Known for| Powell's method
Davidon–Fletcher–Powell formula
Awards| Naylor Prize and Lectureship
Scientific career
Fields| Numerical analysis
Optimization
Approximation[1]
Institutions| University of Cambridge
Website| michaeljdpowell.blogspot.co.uk

Michael James David Powell FRS FAA[2] (29 July 1936 - 19 April 2015) was a British mathematician, who worked in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge.[3][1][4][5][6]

## Education and early life

[edit]

Born in London, Powell was educated at Frensham Heights School and Eastbourne College.[2] He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree[when?] followed by a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree in 1979 at the University of Cambridge.[7]

## Career and research

[edit]

Powell was known for his extensive work in numerical analysis, especially nonlinear optimisation and approximation. He was a founding member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and a founding Managing Editor of the Journal for Numerical Analysis.[citation needed] His mathematical contributions include quasi-Newton methods, particularly the Davidon–Fletcher–Powell formula and the Powell's Symmetric Broyden formula, augmented Lagrangian function (also called Powell–Rockafellar penalty function), sequential quadratic programming method (also called as Wilson–Han–Powell method), trust region algorithms (Powell's dog leg method), conjugate direction method (also called Powell's method), and radial basis function.[citation needed] He had been working on derivative-free optimization algorithms in recent years, the resultant algorithms including COBYLA, UOBYQA, NEWUOA, BOBYQA, and LINCOA.[8] He was the author of numerous scientific papers[1] and of several books, most notably Approximation Theory and Methods.[9]

### Awards and honours

[edit]

Powell won several awards, including the George B. Dantzig Prize from the Mathematical Programming Society/Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and the Naylor Prize from the London Mathematical Society.[when?] Powell was elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States in 2001 and as a corresponding fellow to the Australian Academy of Science in 2007.[7][10][11][12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Michael J. D. Powell publications indexed by Google Scholar
2. ^ a b c Buhmann, Martin D.; Fletcher, Roger; Iserles, Arieh; Toint, Philippe (2018). "Michael J. D. Powell. 29 July 1936 – 19 April 2015" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 64. London: Royal Society: 341–366. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2017.0023. ISSN 0080-4606. S2CID 59006501.
3. ^ a b Michael J. D. Powell at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
4. ^ ICNAAO 2016 (5 August—7, 2016, Beijing), a memorial conference organized by Professor Ya-xiang Yuan
5. ^ A memorial site set up by Dr. Dominique Orban
6. ^ An Interview with M. J. D. Powell by Luis Nunes Vicente, 14 June 2003
7. ^ a b "Powell in Oral History of SIAM". SIAM. 6 April 2005. see also An Interview with M. J. D. Powell by Philip J. Davis, 6 April 2005
8. ^ "PRIMA: Reference Implementation for Powell's Methods with Modernization and Amelioration". Retrieved 23 April 2023.
9. ^ Approximation Theory and Methods, ISBN 978-0521295147.
10. ^ An Interview with M. J. D. Powell by Xiaoling Sun, 2006
11. ^ Citation for winning the Catherine Richards Prize
12. ^ "Optimization software by Professor M. J. D. Powell at CCPForge". Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.

* v
* t
* e

Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1983

Fellows|

* Martin Aitken
* Patrick Bateson
* Edward Cocking
* Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar
* Pierre Deslongchamps
* William Douglas
* R. John Ellis
* Malcolm Ferguson-Smith
* Alan Fersht
* William Alexander Gambling
* Ian Graham Gass
* Ian Gibbons
* George Gray
* Ray Guillery
* Richard Henderson
* Peter Higgs
* Christopher Hooley
* Anthony James
* Peter Lawrence
* John Lawson
* George Lusztig
* C David Marsden
* Donald Metcalf
* Keith O'Nions
* Ted Paige
* Michael Pepper
* Michael J. D. Powell
* Philip Randle
* Ivan Roitt
* Alan Sargeson
* Dennis Sciama
* Ian Sneddon
* Edwin Southern
* Brian Spalding
* Nigel Unwin
* Ian Ward
* Felix Weinberg
* Charles Weissmann
* John Westcott
* Dudley Williams

Statute 12|

* David Attenborough
* Margaret Thatcher

Foreign|

* Anatole Abragam
* G. Evelyn Hutchinson
* Jean Leray
* Henry Stommel
* Frank Westheimer

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Czech Republic
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Israel
* Belgium

Academics|

* Mathematics Genealogy Project
* Scopus
* zbMATH
* Google Scholar
* DBLP
* MathSciNet

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB

Other|

* IdRef

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template