FEniCS Workshop at Simula

A FEniCS Workshop was held June 11-12 at Simula Research Laboratory in Oslo with 50 participants from Europe and the US. An introduction to my talk is posted as a knol.

FEniCS came out from a 30 year cooperation with Ridgway Scott initiated when we both were post docs at the University of Chicago in the mid 70s as the mathematics of the finite element method was booming. 

FEniCS  is a realization of our common dream of automating computational solution of differential equations by exploiting the generality and efficiency of the finite element method, that is the dream of the finite element machine. 

FEniCS has developed from a cooperation between my former students Anders Logg and Johan Hoffman and now involves several groups at several universities and laboratories into an exponentially increasing activity with good prospects of exceeding the initial dreams. In particular, Simula now contributes considerable manpower to FEniCS.

FEniCS is an essential part of my main goal of reforming education in mathematics, science and technology by using the power of automated computational mathematics, as presented in the Body&Soul Project.

Tomorrow the President of KTH will say yes or no to a new program in Simulation Technology based on Body&Soul/FEniCS, see my blog of June 5. Either answer will have serious consequences. Follow the thrilling combat...

Sweden also needs a Simula. In Norway Simula was created because the Minister of Education understood the need of reform, which universities did/do not. Maybe our new Minister of Education will also be able to understand...see my blog of June 15.