Mathematician receives inaugural Jones Medal

Media release

 
Faculty of Science

The University of Auckland

11 November 2010

Distinguished mathematician receives inaugural Jones Medal

Emeritus Professor John Butcher from The University of Auckland received the inaugural Jones Medal for lifetime achievement in mathematical sciences at the annual Research Honours Dinner last night in Christchurch.

The award recognises Professor Butcher’s exceptional work on numerical methods for the solution of ordinary differential equations and his leadership in the development of New Zealand mathematical sciences.

Professor Butcher’s primary area of research is numerical analysis – also known as computational mathematics – which studies how to use computers to solve scientific problems. Most recently he has taken a particular interest in the ability of sophisticated numerical methods to adhere to conservation laws for very long time intervals. This is important for the computational modelling of mechanical and other physical systems.

As well as his contributions to computational mathematics, Professor Butcher’s work has led to significant advances in related fields.

“Different branches of mathematics can sometimes be brought together,” he says. “For instance, I found that the clue to understanding the accuracy of numerical methods for ordinary differential equations depends on the pure mathematical disciplines of graph theory and combinatorics."

Perhaps most notably in 1972 he discovered an important mathematical structure, now named the Butcher group, a full 26 years before it was rediscovered by Dirk Kreimer and (Fields Medalist) Alain Connes in the guise of the Hopf Algebra of rooted trees. This algebra has important applications in geometry and theoretical physics.

Professor Butcher began his academic career in 1952 studying mathematics at Auckland University College - later to become The University of Auckland. He completed his PhD in Physics in Sydney, and after periods at the University of Canterbury and Stanford University, retuned to Auckland as a Professor of Mathematics in 1966.

Professor Butcher’s area of research has considerable overlap with computer science and in 1980 he founded the University’s Department of Computer Science, where he remained for ten years before returning to the Department of Mathematics.

At 77 years of age, John is one of the oldest mathematicians still active in New Zealand. He “retired”, as was compulsory at the time, in 1999, but says that the period since then has been one of the most productive in his research career. He has gone on to publish more than 40 of the 150 or so scientific papers which, along with three books, make up his extensive list of publications. He maintains national and international research collaborations and has continued to teach and take on new postgraduate students.  

Amongst other honours, Professor Butcher is the recipient of the Royal Society of New Zealand "Hector Memorial Medal" and the New Zealand Mathematical Society Award for Mathematical Research. Early next year he will travel to the Netherlands to receive the Van Wijngaarden Prize for mathematics. 

Professor Butcher was presented with the inaugural Jones Medal last night by Sir Vaughan Jones, one of John's former students in Auckland, in whose honour the award was established. Sir Vaughan is the only New Zealander to receive the Fields Medal, often referred to as the Nobel Prize for Mathematics.

 
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