John Argyris

John Argyris
Born	Ιωάννης χατζι Αργύρης (1913-08-19)19 August 1913 Volos, Greece
Died	Stuttgart
Institutions	Imperial College London University of Stuttgart
Alma mater	National Technical University of Athens Technical University Munich
Known for	Finite element method
Notable awards	Theodore von Karman Medal (1975) FRS (1986)

John Hadji Argyris FRS (Greek: Ιωάννης Αργύρης; 19 August 1913 – 2 April 2004) was a pioneer of computer applications in science and engineering, among the creators of the Finite element method (FEM), and lately Professor at the University of Stuttgart and Director of the Institute for Statics and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures.

Education

He was born in Volos, Greece but the family moved to Athens where he was educated in the Classical Gymnasium.

He studied civil engineering for four years in the National Technical University of Athens and then in the Technical University Munich, receiving his Engineering Diploma in 1936.

Career

His first job was at the Gollnow company in Stettin, where he was involved among other things in high radio transmitter masts. He was imprisoned by the Nazis for some time but with the help of Admiral Canaris he escaped to Switzerland where he continued his studies in ETH Zurich. In 1943, he joined the research department of the Royal Aeronautical Society in England. Starting from 1949 he was lecturer in aeronautical engineering at the Imperial College London of the University of London, where he assumed a chair in 1955.

In 1959, Argyris was appointed a professor at the Technical University of Stuttgart (today University of Stuttgart) and director of the Institute for Statics and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures. He created the Aeronautical and Astronautical Campus of the University of Stuttgart as focal point for applications of digital computers and electronics.

Argyris was involved in and developed to a large extent the Finite Element Method along with Ray W. Clough and Olgierd Zienkiewicz after an early mathematical pre-working of Richard Courant.

Awards and honours

Argyris was awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society Silver Medal in 1971.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1986. His nomination reads:

Professor Argyris commenced his scientific career at Imperial College in 1949 and subsequently accepted in 1959 a joint appointment as Professor at Imperial College and Professor and Director of the Institute of Astronautical Structures at Stuttgart. Professor Argyris pioneered in the United Kingdom and Europe computer mechanics and established in the early 50's the matrix structural theory introducing the first finite elements concepts including effects of material and geometrical nonlinearities. This work initiated an explosive development of computational mechanics which is still an expanding area. In this field he continued without interruption as one of the leading figures and published a prodigious number of papers (over 300) ranging in applications from structural problems through fluid mechanics, lubrication, celestial mechanics. The computer system ASKA developed under his direction was the model for many subsequent industrial developments. Professor Argyris has been honoured abroad by a great number of distinctions including the von Karman Medal (ASCE), Timoshenko Mecal [sic] (ASME), I. B. Laskowitz Gold Medal in Astronautics (N.Y. Acad. Of Sc.) and Copernicus Medal (Polish Acad. Of Sc.).

Personal life

His uncle, Constantin Carathéodory, was a Greek mathematician of the Modern Era. He died in Stuttgart and is buried in the Sankt Jörgens Cemetery in the city of Varberg, Sweden.