Professor Michael J.D. Powell FRS FIMA (1936-2015)

摘要

On 19 April 2015 we lost one of the leading mathematicians of this country, indeed one of the best numerical analysts worldwide, namely Professor M.J.D. Powell, known as Mike to his colleagues and friends. Mike was at the forefront of research and implementation of methods of applied numerical mathematics, especially in optimisation and approximation theory. His interests were broad in mathematics and his insights deep, as shown by the many profound research papers he has written and his communications with colleagues, especially his excellent talks. The author of this note remembers a serious remark of a mathematician after Mike explained one of his insights asking 'why do we do all this research if Mike knows it already anyway?'.