J. H. Wilkinson Prize

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