David James Silvester (born 26 December 1958) is a British

numerical analyst Numerical may refer to: * Number * Numerical digit * Numerical analysis Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical ...

. He has a Chair in Numerical Analysis and is the Head of

Applied Mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

in the Department of Mathematics at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. Silvester was born in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, but was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy (Wales) and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), from which he gained his B.Sc. in Mathematics (1980) and Ph.D. in Numerical Analysis (1983). His Ph.D. thesis (''An Analysis of Finite Element Approximation for Swirling Flow'') was supervised by Ronald Thatcher. He was appointed lecturer in Mathematics at UMIST in 1984, and later promoted to Senior Lecturer and Reader. In 2003 he was promoted to a personal Chair of Numerical Analysis. Silvester held visiting positions in the Computer Science Department at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1991 (as a Fulbright Senior Fellow) and in 1999, at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

(1994), the

University of the Littoral Opal Coast The University of the Littoral Opal Coast ( French: ''Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale''; ULCO) is a public university located in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments of northern France. Its namesake is the Opal Coast region, of which it ...

(2009), and the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

(2019). Silvester is best known for his work on finite element methods, fast iterative solvers for fluid dynamics, and uncertainty quantification. He has more than 65 refereed publications on topics such as iterative solution of Stokes and Navier–Stokes systems, preconditioning, and error estimation in finite element methods. Silvester's books include ''Finite Elements and Fast Iterative Solvers: With Applications in Incompressible Fluid Dynamics'' and ''Essential Partial Differential Equations'' (co-authored with David F. Griffiths and

John W. Dold John William Dold (also known as Bill Dold) is an emeritus professor in the Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester, department of mathematics in the University of Manchester, a specialist in the field of Fluid Mechanics and Combusti ...

). Silvester has served as the elected President of the UK and Republic of Ireland section of the

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific soci ...

(2009–2011). He became a Fellow of the

in 2023.SIAM Fellows Class of 2023
/ref> He is on the editorial board of the ''Journal of Scientific Computing''.

References

External links

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvester, David 1958 births Living people Academics of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology 20th-century Scottish mathematicians 21st-century Scottish mathematicians Numerical analysts People from Dumfries