The J.H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software is a prestigious award that recognizes outstanding contributions to numerical software.
Established in 1998, the prize is named after James Hardy Wilkinson, a renowned mathematician and computer scientist.
The prize is awarded every two years by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
It's a testament to the importance of numerical software in modern computing, and a reminder of the impact that pioneers like Wilkinson have had on the field.
Eligibility and Recipients
The J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software has specific eligibility requirements. Candidates must have worked in the field for no more than 12 years after receiving their PhD as of January 1 of the award year.
Breaks in continuity are allowed, and the prize committee may make exceptions to this rule. This flexibility is likely in place to account for career paths that may not be linear.
The prize is awarded based on a range of criteria, including clarity of software implementation and documentation, and the quality of the test software.
1995
The 1995 prize was awarded to Chris Bischof and Alan Carle for ADIFOR 2.0, an automatic differentiation tool for Fortran 77 programs.
This code is available for educational and non-profit research, making it accessible to a wider audience.
In 1995, Chris Bischof and Alan Carle's work on ADIFOR 2.0 was recognized with a prize for their contributions to the field of automatic differentiation.
The code's availability for educational and non-profit research highlights the importance of making complex tools accessible to those who can benefit from them.
1999
The 1999 prize was awarded to Matteo Frigo and Steven G. Johnson for FFTW, a C library for computing the discrete Fourier transform.
In that year, the prize went to two individuals who made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and computer science.
Matteo Frigo and Steven G. Johnson developed a highly optimized library for computing the discrete Fourier transform, a crucial operation in many scientific and engineering applications.
Their work, known as FFTW, was a C library that greatly improved the efficiency of this calculation.
This achievement has had a lasting impact on the field, enabling faster and more accurate computations in a wide range of areas.
The development of FFTW is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in mathematics and computer science.
2007
The 2007 prize was awarded to Wolfgang Bangerth, Guido Kanschat, and Ralf Hartmann for deal.II, a software library for computational solution of partial differential equations using adaptive finite elements. It is freely available.
In 2007, the prize was given to a team of researchers who created a software library that helps solve complex math problems.
Their software, deal.II, is used to solve partial differential equations, which are a type of math problem that describes how things change over time and space.
2019
The 2019 prize was awarded to Jeff Bezanson, Stefan Karpinski, and Viral B. Shah for their development of the Julia programming language. They created a new language that's gained popularity in the tech world.
The recipients of the 2019 prize were recognized for their innovative work.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for the award, candidates must have worked in the field for at most 12 years after receiving their PhD as of January 1 of the award year. Breaks in continuity are allowed, and the prize committee may make exceptions.
The award is given based on a set of criteria that assess the quality and impact of the software implementation. Clarity of the software implementation and documentation is one of the key factors, so it's essential to ensure that your submission is well-organized and easy to understand.
The software implementation will be evaluated on its portability, reliability, efficiency, and usability. This means that your software should be able to run on different systems, be free from errors, use resources efficiently, and be easy to use.
A good analysis of the algorithm and the software is also crucial, as it demonstrates your understanding of the underlying concepts and how they were applied. The importance of the application addressed by the software is another key factor, so make sure to highlight the impact and relevance of your work.
The quality of the test software is also evaluated, so make sure to include thorough and well-documented tests to demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of your software.
Recommended read: ACM Software System Award
Notable Winners
The J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software has recognized many talented individuals over the years.
Patrick Farrell, Simon Funke, David Ham, and Marie Rognes were awarded the prize in 2015 for developing dolfin-adjoint, a package that automatically derives and solves adjoint and tangent linear equations from high-level mathematical specifications of finite element discretisations of partial differential equations.
2015
The 2015 prize was awarded to a group of researchers for their impressive work on a package called dolfin-adjoint.
Patrick Farrell from the University of Oxford and Simon Funke from Simula Research Laboratory were part of this team, along with David Ham from Imperial College London and Marie Rognes, also from Simula Research Laboratory.
Their achievement was the development of a package that automatically derives and solves adjoint and tangent linear equations from high-level mathematical specifications of finite element discretisations of partial differential equations.
James Hardy ("Jim")
Jim Hardy, also known as James Hardy, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 for his work on the behavior of subatomic particles.
He was a renowned physicist who made significant contributions to our understanding of the universe.
Hardy's research focused on the properties of muons, a type of subatomic particle that is similar to electrons but has a heavier mass.
This work laid the foundation for the development of new technologies and a deeper understanding of the fundamental laws of physics.
Julia Programming Language Developers Win Wilkinson Prize
The Julia programming language has been making waves in the world of numerical software, and it's no surprise that its developers have won the prestigious J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software.
The prize is awarded every four years to honour outstanding contributions to the field of numerical software, with a focus on clarity, portability, and usability of the software implementation.
The Wilkinson Prize is given on the basis of several criteria, including clarity of the software implementation and documentation, as well as the quality of the test software.
The prize is funded by the Argonne National Laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory, and the Numerical Algorithms Group, and comes with a award of US $3000.
In 1991, the first prize was awarded to Linda Petzold for DASSL, a differential algebraic equation solver, which is available in the public domain.
The Wilkinson Prize has been awarded to several notable winners over the years, including Chris Bischof and Alan Carle for ADIFOR 2.0, an automatic differentiation tool for Fortran 77 programs.
Other notable winners include Matteo Frigo and Steven Johnson for FFTW, a C library for computing the discrete Fourier transform, and Jonathan Shewchuk for Triangle, a two-dimensional mesh generator and Delaunay Triangulator.
The Wilkinson Prize is a testament to the importance of numerical software in solving real-world problems, and the impact that it can have on various fields of study.
The prize is given to individuals who are under the age of 40, and the winners must demonstrate outstanding contributions to the field of numerical software.
The 2015 prize was awarded to Patrick Farrell, Simon Funke, David Ham, and Marie Rognes for the development of dolfin-adjoint, a package which automatically derives and solves adjoint and tangent linear equations from high-level mathematical specifications of finite element discretisations of partial differential equations.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._H._Wilkinson_Prize_for_Numerical_Software
- https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/wilkinson_0671216.cfm
- https://info.juliahub.com/blog/newsletter-january-2019-julia-co-creators-win-wilkinson-prize
- https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/wilkinson-prize-goes-developers-flexible-julia-programming-language
- https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/7505807
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