Edward L. Wilson (born 1931) is an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and academic known for his contributions to the development of

finite element method Finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat tran ...

. He was the T. Y. and Margaret Lin Professor in Engineering at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and is professor emeritus, civil and environmental engineering,

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. Wilson is a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

and a recipient of the

John von Neumann Award The John von Neumann Award (), named after John von Neumann, is given annually by the Rajk László College for Advanced Studies in Budapest, to an outstanding scholar in the exact social sciences, whose works have had substantial influence ove ...

. Wilson is considered to be one of the early pioneers in the field of finite element analysis and its applications. He is credited with having written the first widely accepted computer package for structural analysis (SAP) and co-authored the widely cited book in FEM, "Numerical Methods in Finite Element Analysis", with Klaus-Jurgen Bathe. Born September 5, 1931, in Ferndale,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Wilson earned his B.S., M.S., and D.Eng. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 1955, 1959, and 1963, respectively. He earned the master's and a doctoral degree under Ray W. Clough.

References

UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering 1931 births People from Ferndale, California Engineers from California {{US-academic-stub