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OLGIERD C . Z IE N K IE W IC Z
1921–2009
Elected in 1981
“For outstanding contributions to development of
finite element method theory and dissemination of
knowledge concerning its application to engineering practice.”
BY ROBERT L. TAYLOR
In May 2011, I attended the 19th International Conference on
Computer Methods in Mechanics held in Warsaw, Poland.
As I sat in a main lecture hall of the Warsaw University of
Technology for the opening session, I could not help but
recall my good friend Olgierd Cecil Zienkiewicz, who died
on January 2, 2009, in Swansea, Wales, after a brief illness.
In the summer of 1939, Olek (as his friends knew him) was
in Warsaw preparing to take the entrance examination to
enter the Technical University to study civil engineering. The
events of September 1939 changed the course of his career and
undoubtedly that of the field of computational mechanics.
At the time of his death, Olek was professor emeritus and
director of the Institute for Numerical Methods in Engineering
at the University of Wales, Swansea, and held the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
chair of numerical methods in engineering at the Universitat
Politecnica de Cataluña in Barcelona, Spain. During his
long career he was a great engineer in the construction of
hydroelectric projects, author of many books and technical
articles, cofounder of technical journals, and a leader in the
field of civil engineering. He was also an avid sailor, enjoyed
snorkeling, and was an adventurous gourmet.
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Olek was born on May 18, 1921, in Caterham, Surrey,
England, the son of a Polish father, Kasimierz, and an English
mother, Edith. At the age of 2, his family relocated to Poland.
During the next few years the family moved several times,
which often interrupted his studies. Thus, at an early age Olek
developed the ability to learn new subjects from reading on his
own and personal tutors. He had a phenomenal memory and
could, in late life, clearly recall poems of the Iliad learned from
his Latin tutor, sing the Polish songs of Wladyslaw Szpilman,
and recall salient points from any of his publications.
In the early 1930s the family settled in Katowice, where his
father had attained a position as a judge in the regional court.
To prepare for university, Olek was sent to a boarding school
in Rydzyna, where he studied science subjects, literature, and
learned the art of boat building. In June 1939, he completed his
high school studies in the fields of mathematics, descriptive
geometry, and physics. During the summer of 1939 he was
able to complete a sailboat he had started in Rydzyna and
learned the art of sailing. His love of sailing instilled in him
a desire to study naval architecture at university. However,
none of the three polytechnic universities in Poland offered
the subject. Thus, Olek chose civil engineering and was in
Warsaw preparing for entrance exams to the university when
the Second World War began. In early December his father
was able to obtain visas for the family to go to Italy. Shortly
thereafter they secured visas to enter France, where the Polish
government in exile was situated. They remained in France
until mid-1940, when France fell to the German advance and
they finally left for England. By the summer of 1940 the family
was settled in London, and Olek attained a scholarship as a
Polish student to attend Imperial College, where he received
his bachelor of science degree in 1943. He continued with
postgraduate studies and completed his doctoral thesis in
mid-1945 with Professor Richard Southwell (later Sir Richard)
performing research with “relaxation methods” to study the
uplift pressures on dams.
In August 1945 he secured employment with the firm of
Sir William Halcrows & Partners as an engineer in charge
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OLGIERD C . Z IE N K IE W IC Z 381
of a survey party for the design of hydroelectric schemes in
Scotland. For the next few years he worked on the design and
construction of the hydroelectric schemes at Glen Affric and
Mullardoch. In 1949 he accepted his first academic appointment
as a lecturer at Edinburgh University.
During his period in Edinburgh, Olek continued to work
on problems related to hydraulic and structural problems
encountered in hydroelectric projects. His studies were both
experimental and analytical. In 1951 he met Helen Fleming
at a dance. After a one-year courtship they were married in
December 1952. In the second year of their marriage, Olek and
Helen welcomed their first son, Andrew. A second son, David,
was born in 1955.
In January 1958 the family moved to the United States,
where Olek had accepted an offer as a visiting professor at
Northwestern University. Then in March they welcomed
the arrival of their daughter, Krysia. Olek’s research at
Northwestern focused on structural problems, many still
related to the behavior of dams. He continued to apply
relaxation solution methods to finite difference equations
throughout this period. At this time he also heard about what
was to become known as the finite element method from
Professor Ray Clough (NAE member) of the University of
California, Berkeley. At the time Olek believed finite difference
methods could solve all elasticity problems equally well,
but that finite element methods offered a way to solve shell
problems associated with arch dams if appropriate bending
elements could be developed.
In 1961, Olek was appointed chair of the civil engineering
department at the University of Wales, Swansea. At the time of
his appointment the civil engineering department consisted of
five faculty members. During the next few years Olek appointed
several additional staff who would later become well known
to the computational mechanics community. It was in Swansea
that Olek started research on finite element methods. By 1962
he and his students had succeeded in devising a thin plate
element of rectangular form that converged for known plate
solutions. In 1965, working with Bruce Irons, who was then
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an engineer at Rolls-Royce, Olek produced a triangular plate-
bending element that was fully conforming. A little later he was
successful in bringing Irons to Swansea as a lecturer. This was
a fortuitous appointment as Bruce was aware of much work
being performed in the aeronautics industry, including that of
Ian Taig on direct construction of quadrilateral elements. At
Swansea this evolved into the family of isoparametric elements
that were successful in generalizing element forms for use in
two- and three-dimensional problems of elasticity and of other
subjects. The introduction of isoparametric elements was a
major advancement to the finite element method and greatly
simplified the development of computer software.
Olek devoted a significant portion of his activities to the
solution of real engineering problems. One of the first dams he
analyzed was the Clywedog Dam in Wales. According to Olek,
this was the first time that finite elements had been used as
part of the design of a new dam. He also traveled extensively
to attend conferences and give lectures at universities and
industrial centers. Through these he quickly became known as
the “Ambassador of Finite Elements”!
Olek wrote the first book devoted to the finite element
method. The Finite Element Method in Structural and Continuum
Mechanics, published by McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Limited, London, 1967, consisted of some 270 pages. The
book was an immediate success and firmly established Olek
worldwide as a leader in finite element theory and practice.
The book has appeared in five subsequent editions, with the
current edition, published in 2005, consisting of three volumes
numbering nearly 1,800 pages.
By the late 1960s Olek realized that publication of
numerical finite element research required a new outlet, since
the available journals in mechanics were more interested
in theory than solution methods. Together with Professor
Richard H. Gallagher (deceased NAE member) as coeditor, he
established the International Journal for Numerical Methods in
Engineering, which was first published quarterly in 1969. The
journal grew rapidly over the years to its present 48 issues per
year. From his travels around the world, Olek also recognized
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OLGIERD C . Z IE N K IE W IC Z 383
a need for an international organization devoted to numerical
methods. Through his efforts the International Association of
Computational Mechanics was founded in 1986 and he served
as its first president for four years.
During the next 25 years, Olek and his colleagues and
students developed and applied finite element methods to
solve a wide range of applications—from problems in solid
mechanics to problems in fluid dynamics to problems in
electromagnetism. The topics Olek addressed during his career
resulted in almost 600 papers and 13 books.
After a career spanning five decades, Olek retired in 1988 as
head of civil engineering at Swansea. Following this retirement,
he served as director of the Institute for Numerical Methods in
Engineering at Swansea, where he continued his research and
supervision of doctoral students.
Through his research and associations with scholars
throughout the world, Olek achieved an international
reputation as a leader in the development of finite element
methods. In recognition of his achievements, he was elected a
fellow of both the Royal Society in Great Britain and the Royal
Academy of Engineering in 1979. Shortly after his retirement,
Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the title of Commander of the
British Empire in recognition of his lifetime accomplishments.
In 1981, Olek was elected as a foreign member of the National
Academy of Engineering. He was also a foreign member of
the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome), the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, and the Polish Academy of Sciences.
In 2005, he received the Prince Philip Medal of the Royal
Academy of Engineering.
The adage that “behind every great man is a great woman”
was especially true for Olek. His wife Helen was his teammate
and acted as hostess to the many students, colleagues, and
friends who visited their home in Swansea. She was a loyal
partner throughout all of his activities.
Olek leaves a legacy in the form of his books and writings as
well as in the many students and collaborators who benefited
from his advice and tutoring. He was indeed a distinguished
scholar and a good friend to many. He is greatly missed but not
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forgotten! He is survived by his wife, Helen, and their children,
David and Krysia. His firstborn son, Andy, died a year after
his father. Olek is also survived by his grandchildren—Ami,
Adam, Jaimie, and Kate. Krysia’s son Jon tragically died at the
age of 11 from leukemia.
Andrew wrote in his eulogy for his father the following:
My Dad was a sailor, determined to enjoy himself.
Some of his happiest photos are in the middle of Swansea
Bay. Many sailed with him, or learned how to sail with
him, or just got roped into boat maintenance. He didn’t
usually plan a sail, but was happy to see which way the
wind was blowing and what looked interesting.
As children growing up, we all got used to wandering
day trips or holidays, full of diversions to whatever looked
interesting. Long walks on Gower, which he loved and
kept him anchored in Swansea. Climbing up sea cliffs,
often with no choice as the tide rose behind us. Long
snorkeling adventures in the Mediterranean, returning
with edible fish or an octopus or just something with
poisonous spines. Sailing across the channel to France
and working out the best use of custom allowances.
While traveling he would spot a dam or bridge
under construction, or recently collapsed, and then to
his children’s cringing embarrassment, march up to
the security gate and never fail to talk his way in. And
we would see wonderful things, huge civil engineering
projects, research labs, inside other people’s houses. He
knew that people like to talk about what they do and he
let them know that he wanted to hear about it.
Intellectually, any question could start a discussion,
sometimes a lecture, on science, maps, history, math,
religion. If he did not know, then we would be sent to get
the big books and do research. I remember him ringing
up a priest in the middle of the evening because we could
not figure out the ethical point of a parable.
Gastronomically, he would try anything. And we got
the benefit of that, learning to love food from France,
Yugoslavia and Poland and what to do with anything
found in the sea.
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Most of all he showed us there was a big world out
there. A world, most of which he visited, some of which
he showed us and an awful lot of which passed through
our living room in the form of his friends and colleagues.
He enjoyed sailing with all of them.
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