[NotiAMCA] Obituario Prof. Carlos A. Brebbia

[Mario Storti]

La Asociación Argentina de Mecánica Computacional lamenta el
fallecimiento del Prof. Carlos Brebbia.

Carlos era natural de Rosario, donde se graduó de Ingeniero Civil de
la UNR. Desarrolló una extensa carrera científica en el Reino Unido y
es internacionalmente reconocido como el creador del Método de los
Elementos de Contorno. En 1981 fundó el Computational Mechanics
Institute en la ciudad de Southpamton, el que a partir de 1986 fue
sucedido por el Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT).

Varios miembros de la comunidad de Mecánica Computacional de nuestro
país realizaron sus doctorados en el WIT con trabajos sobre el Método
de los Elementos de Contorno: Margarita Portapila (UNR), Bruno
Natalini (UNNE), Raúl Mingo (UNLP) y Adrián Cisilino (UNMdP).

Transcribimos a continuación el obituario del Prof. Brebbia

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http://www.wessex.ac.uk/about/obituary-professor-carlos-a-brebbia:
Obituary - Professor Carlos A. Brebbia

With profound sadness we announce that Professor Carlos A. Brebbia
passed away peacefully on Saturday 3rd March 2018.

Carlos was born in Rosario, Argentina, where he completed his first
engineering degree, after being educated at Military Colleges in Santa Fe
and Buenos Aires. He spent two years after graduation as part of a small
team setting up an Institute of Applied Mechanics. Following this he
registered at the University of Southampton in England for a higher degree,
arranging to carry out his research partly at MIT. This experience set up
the basis for his long and close association with the USA.

After obtaining his PhD at Southampton University he worked for the
Central Electricity Research Laboratories in the UK, a leading
research establishment at the time. He left the Laboratories to take
up an academic position at the University of Southampton where he rose
from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Reader. During his time at
Southampton he took leave to become Visiting Professor at many other
Universities, including an academic year at Princeton. After having
been appointed Full Professor of Engineering at the University of
California, Irvine, he decided to resign his position and return to
the UK to set up the Wessex Institute, of which he was the Founder and
Director.

Carlos is renowned throughout the world as the originator of the
Boundary Element Method, a technique that generates important research
work at the Wessex Institute. He has written many scientific papers,
been author of 14 books, co-author of numerous volumes and editor or
co-editor of over 500.  He also published two non-scientific books,
“The New Forest. A Personal View” and “Patagonia, a forgotten Land”. A
book on the Paraguayan War in the 19th Century was a work in progress
at the time of his death.  He founded several successful international
Journals including the International Journals of Safety and Security
Engineering, Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, Sustainable Development
and Planning, Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements,
Energy Production and Management, Heritage Architecture, Transport
Development and Integration, and the new International Journal of
Environmental Impacts.

He established two International prizes, the highly regarded Prigogine
Medal for Ecological Systems Research, co-sponsored by the University of
Siena; and the George Green Medal, supported by Elsevier and co-sponsored
by the University of Mississippi.

Carlos ran a successful WIT programme of international scientific
conferences in different locations throughout the world. He helped the
Institute to develop academic links with first class institutions
around the world, which has resulted in many more research programmes
and collaborative projects.

Carlos held many special honours, including the Medaille de la Ville
de Paris, Echelon Argent; Medaille of the Masonnet Foundation,
University of Liege, Belgium; Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers in the UK; Fellow, and Founding President of the American
Society of Civil Engineers UK Chapter; Honorary PhD at the University
of Bucharest; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; and Member of the
European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In parallel with his academic career, Carlos was a highly successful
entrepreneur and founded the Computational Mechanics International Ltd
group of companies in 1976. This group’s activities have grown to
include software development, engineering consultancy, property
investment and publishing. The group works closely with WIT and is
responsible for the publishing programme of the Institute which
includes, in addition to the conference proceedings, a series of
monographs and edited books by some of the foremost scientists in the
world.

Whilst we grieve the enormous loss of our Founder and Chairman, whose
hard work, determination and achievements during his career are truly
inspirational, we know that his earnest desire was for all that he has
worked tirelessly to build over many years, to continue to
flourish. To this we are firmly committed and so we welcome the
continued and future collaboration of our friends and colleagues
around the world.

Carlos is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his son Alexander and
daughter Isabel, and six grandchildren.
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Mario Alberto Storti,
CIMEC (CONICET-UNL)
Tel: +54-342-4511594 (ext 7065)
e-mail: mario.storti at gmail.com, Skype: mstorti
http://www.cimec.org.ar/mstorti
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