Numerical Analysis in the Age of Electronic Computing

The dawn of the digital era and the rise of the electronic computer signaled a most significant turning point in the history of the development and application of the discipline of Numerical Analysis. Methods for obtaining numerical results for differential equations related to specific domains of physics that had been introduced in the previous decades received now an enormous boost and were significantly improved and applied with increased success in an ever-growing spectrum of problems. Prominent among these were the Runge-Kutta method for solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs), and finite difference methods, such as the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL), for partial differential equations (PDEs). They were crucial to the successfull aplication of WEIZAC to scientific problems. In addition, institutionalizing research and training in numerical analysis at the Weizmann Institute became a top priority for Pekeris. The person specifically commissioned with this important task was Philip (Pinchas) Rabinowinowitz.