John Todd

Born May 16, 1911, Carnacally, Ireland, British numerical analyst who joined John Curtiss at NBS post World War II; chief of the Computer Laboratory when the SEAC was delivered.

Education: BSc, Queen's University, Belfast, 1931; research exhibitioner, 1931-1932, Strathcona Research Student, 1932-1933, St. John's College, Cambridge.

Professional Experience: lecturer, Queen's University, Belfast, 1933-1937; lecturer, King's College, London, 1937-1949; scientist, British Admiralty (Admiralty Computing Service), 1939-1946; National Bureau of Standards: expert, applied mathematics, 1947-1948, chief, Computation Laboratory, 1949-1954, chief, Numerical Analysis, 1954-1957; professor, mathematics, California Institute of Technology, 1957-present.

Honors and Awards: Fulbright professor, Vienna (1965); Governor, Math. Assoc. 1980-1983; SIAM National Lecturer, 1960; International Linear Algebra Society has instituted the "Olga Taussky--John Todd Lecture" beginning in 1993; Cal Tech has instituted the Olga Taussky-John Todd Instructorships, beginning in 1993.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biographical

Todd, John, "The Prehistory and Early History of Computation at the US National Bureau of Standards," in Nash, Stephen G., A History of Scientific Computing, ACM Press History Series, New York, 1990, pp. 251-268.

Todd, John, and Magnus R. Hestenes, "Mathematicians Learning to Use Computers-The Institute for Numerical Analysis, UCLA 1947-1954," Math. Assoc. of America, AMA, Washington, D.C., 1991.

Significant Publications

Todd, John, and D.H. Sadler, "The Admiralty Computing Service," MTAC, Vol. 2, 1947, pp. 289-297.

Todd, John, "A Table of Rational Arctangents," American Math. Soc., #11, US General Printing Office, 1950: paperback, US GPO, 1965.

Todd, John, ed., Survey of Numerical Analysis, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962.

Todd, John, Chapters 3 "Analysis" (pp. 22 -58) and 7 "Numerical Analysis" (pp. 90-125) in Handbook of Physics, Condon, E.U., and Hugh Odishaw, eds., 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967.

Todd, John, "Numerical Analysis at the NBS," SIAM Rev., Vol. 17, 1975, pp. 361-370.

UPDATES

John Todd died June 21, 2007. (MRW, 2013)