Iain S. Duff
Oral History (pdf)
Interviewer: Thomas Haigh
Abstract:
Iain S. Duff earned a first class degree in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy
from the University of Glasgow in 1969. He discusses the mathematical curriculum
there, and recounts his early computing experiences as a summer fellow with
IBM. Duff won a Carnegie Fellowship for postgraduate work at Oxford, culminating
in a D.Phil. conferred in 1972. At Oxford he worked with the numerical analysis
group and wrote his thesis on the analysis of sparse systems under the direction
of Leslie Fox. In 1972, Duff went to the United States on a Harkness postdoctoral
fellowship, spending time at SUNY Stony Brook and Stanford. In 1973, he
became a computing lecturer at Newcastle University, before returning to Harwell
as a researcher in 1975. He continued to work on sparse matrix methods, establishing
himself as a leading researcher in the area, through pioneering work with John
Reid on multifrontal methods, a series of widely read review articles, and
an influential book written in collaboration with Reid and Al Erisman. Duff
rose within Harwell, becoming leader of its numerical analysis group in 1986.
He explores in detail the development and composition of this group, paying
particular attention to the Harwell Subroutine Library, a collection of numerical
subroutines developed within Harwell from the mid-1960s on and widely distributed
to other sites. Duff explains its history, evolution, areas of strength, sources
of routines, documentation methods, distribution practices, relationship to
the NAG library, and attempts at commercial exploitation. In 1990, Duff led
his group from Harwell to the nearby Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, as government
cuts and shifts in priorities threatened its future at Harwell. Since 1987
Duff has also led the Parallel Algorithms group at CERFACS in Toulouse, and
discusses the origins of CERFACS, the composition and functioning of his group,
and its involvement in the MUMPS and PARASOL projects to create parallel multifrontal
solvers for sparse systems. Duff worked on various forms of BLAS, including
contributions to the Level 3 BLAS specifications and development of the
Sparse BLAS standard.
Key words: mathematical software, sparse matrices, mulitfrontal methods, Harwell Subroutine Library, NAG library, BLAS, parallel algorithms, MUMPS, PARASOL, test matrices
Funding Agency: Atomic Energy Research Establishment, United Kingdom; Office of Science and Innovation, United Kingdom
Time frame: 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's
People: Leslie Fox, Alan Curtis, Micahel Powell, John Reid, Alan George, Ralph Willoughby, Fred Gustavson, Gene Golub, Al Erisman, Jack Dongarra, Michael Heroux, Roldan Pozo
Location: University of Glasgow, OxfordUniversity, Newcastle University, AERE Harwell, IBM Yorktown Heights, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, CERFACS, Argonne National Laboratory
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