| 3rd Wilkinson Prize Awarded |
On Thursday, 8 July 1999, the third Wilkinson Prize for Numerical
Software was awarded to Matteo Frigo and Steven Johnson of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. The winning entry, FFTW (the "Fastest Fourier Transform in the
West"), is a library of C routines for the efficient computation of the discrete
Fourier transform of real and complex data. The unparalleled efficiency over a wide range
of computer platforms is by automatically determining the best computational strategy for
the particular hardware.
Dr. Richard Field, vice principal of the University of Edinburgh and Chairman of NAG, paid
tribute to the quality of the entry when he presented the prize, quoting the external
reviewers of the entries:
"I think FFTW is terrific. It's the best piece of software I've seen written in a
bunch of years."
"I give FFTW very high marks (probably as high marks as I would ever give)."
The Wilkinson Prize was established to encourage young researchers to turn their ideas
and algorithms into quality software that would become available to the community, and to
help give them the recognition that their work in producing such software deserves. More
details are available at www.nag.co.uk/other/wilkinsonprize.asp.
Argonne National Laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory, and the Numerical
Algorithms Group award the prize (US$1000) for the development of high-quality numerical
software, in honor of the contributions made by James Hardy Wilkinson to numerical
software.
James Hardy Wilkinson spent most of his working life at NPL and regularly visited ANL; he
also advised and supported NAG throughout its development. His outstanding contribution to
the eigenvalue problem, numerical computation generally, and numerical software led to his
being one the most highly respected mathematicians of this century. He helped to set the
standards for quality, reliability, and documentation of software in the area of
scientific computing. Many scientific software projects worldwide have built upon this
work, and the community has benefited from this through the availability of software that
can be relied.
More details on the 1999 winning entry can be found at: www.fftw.org
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