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James H. Wilkinson Quotes

d. 1986 England

James Hardy Wilkinson (27 September 1919 – 5 October 1986) was a prominent figure in the field of numerical analysis, a field at the boundary of applied mathematics and computer science particularly useful to physics and engineering. He worked with Alan Turing at the National Physical Laboratory in the early days of the development of electronic computers (1946–1948).

England
Mathematicians

Random James H. Wilkinson quote

6 quotes

Of course everything in computerology is new; that is at once its attraction, and its weakness. Only recently I learned that computers are revolutionizing astrology. Horoscopes by computer!

Some Comments from a Numerical Analyst (1971)

It was not easy to have the imagination to foresee that computers were to become one of the most important developments of the century.

For his research in numerical analysis to facilitate the use of the high-speed digital computer, having received special recognition for his work in computations in linear algebra and 'backward' error analysis.

Numerical analysis has begun to look a little square in the computer science setting, and numerical analysts are beginning to show signs of losing faith in themselves.

Some Comments from a Numerical Analyst (1971)

Turing had a strong predeliction for working things out from first principles, usually in the first instance without consulting any previous work on the subject, and no doubt it was this habit which gave his work that characteristically original flavor.

Some Comments from a Numerical Analyst (1971)

He [Turing] was particularly fond of little programming tricks (some people would say that he was too fond of them to be a "good" programmer) and would chuckle with boyish good humor at any little tricks I may have used.

Some Comments from a Numerical Analyst (1971)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: James H. Wilkinson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.