
Herb Keller, a native of Paterson, New Jersey,
earned his PhD in mathematics from New York University in 1954. After
working as a research scientist and associate professor at the Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU, he arrived at Caltech in
1965 as a visiting professor. He became a full professor two years
later. At Caltech, Keller served as an executive officer for applied
mathematics and director of Caltech's branch of the Center for
Research on Parallel Computation. He retired in 2000 but remained an
active researcher, attending seminars, workshops, and conferences
related to his fields of interest.
At his 70th birthday celebration at Caltech in
1995, Keller was honored for his many contributions to applied math
and scientific computation, including several innovative techniques to
solve two-point boundary-value problems, which arise in such diverse
areas as fluid mechanics, quantum physics, and electromagnetism. He is
also credited with pioneering developments in bifurcation
theory. Keller's methods are the basis for computer software that is
widely used to derive numerical solutions to nonlinear equations. He
also coauthored a classic numerical-analysis textbook with Eugene
Isaacson, an eminent numerical analyst who had worked with Keller at
the Courant Institute.
Keller is survived by his brother Joseph, a retired
mathematics and mechanical engineering professor at Stanford
University; a son, Steve, who lives in Bainbridge Island, Washington;
a daughter, Debra, in Sacramento, California; and four
grandchildren. A memorial website has been set up at http://herbertkeller.blogspot.com/. It is open to anyone who wishes to read or submit comments.
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