Professor Roland Glowinski

Beloved brother, husband, father and grandfather, Roland Glowinski was born March 9th 1937 in Paris, France, the first child of Anna and Nathan who had left their native Belarus and Poland as waves of antisemitism were rising in Eastern Europe. Roland, his mother and brother Albert survived World War II thanks to the friendship of their mother Anna with the Botineaus, a selfless and courageous Christian family from Sarge-sur-Bray in the Loir et Cher area of France. For their heroism, the Botineau family was recognized as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 2005. You can read about the story and see photos of Roland and Albert with the Botineau family during WWII on the Yad Vashem website at: Botineau Madeleine ; Son: Roger ; Daughter: Lucas Madeleine (Botineau) (yadvashem.org). After the war, Roland and his family returned to Paris, reuniting with his father Nathan who had been a prisoner of war in Germany. Roland and his family always remained deeply connected with the Botineau family. On the instigation of his mother, Roland visited Israel for the first time at 19, where he met his wife-to-be Angela, a good friend of a niece of Anna. Roland and Angela married in 1963 at Paris' Great Synagogue on Rue de la Victoire, with Rabbi Choukroun (later the Chief Rabbi of Paris) officiating. They later had two daughters Anne and Tania. Going back to their childhood, Roland and his brother Albert excelled in school. They won admission into the elite Ecole Polytechnique, one of the two most exclusive scientific institutions of higher learning in France. Ecole Polytechnique was a military school and Roland served honorably as a French officer in the Algerian War. After Ecole Polytechnique, Roland obtained a diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications and secured a job as an engineer for the French Broadcasting Authority. While working full-time as an engineer and encouraged by the great Professor Jacques-Louis Lions, his thesis advisor and lifelong mentor, Roland obtained his Doctorat d'Etat in Mathematics from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) in 1970. Then began a very illustrious Mathematician career for Roland. Roland was awarded a professorship at the University of Paris VI in 1970 and also worked as a scientific director for INRIA, the National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Institut National de Recherche en Sciences et Technologies du Numerique). Quickly rising to great renown, Roland collaborated with mathematicians from all over the world and was invited to spend summers as a visiting professor at various international universities such as Stanford University, the University of Rio de Janeiro and the University of Madison-Wisconsin. Roland also participated in "scientific diplomacy" as part of a select group of French mathematicians and dignitaries who traveled to Russia in the 70s to start a scientific collaboration with Russian mathematicians in the midst of the Cold War. He was part of a similar group of French scientists traveling to China in 1981 and selected to participate in a scientific mission to India in 1982, led by French President François Mitterrand. By the mid-80s, Roland was well established as one of the leaders in applied mathematics and scientific computing worldwide. In 1985 Roland took a position as the Cullen Professor of Mathematics at the University of Houston. He continued his illustrious applied mathematics career in the US and the world, regularly participating in conferences, lecturing, teaching, mentoring, researching, and publishing. He authored or co-authored 10 scientific books, as well as over 450 scientific papers. His awards and distinctions throughout his career include: -Silver Medal of the City of Paris, 1980 -Officer of the French Order of the National Merit, 1987 -Member, Academia Europaea, 1988 -Laureate of the Seymour Cray Prize-France, 1988 -Laureate of the Grand Prix Marcel Dassault of the French National Academy of Sciences, 1996 -Knight of the French Order of the Légion d'Honneur, 1998 -Member, French National Academy of Technology, 2000 -Laureate of the SIAM Theodore Von Kármán Prize, 2004 -SIAM Fellow -Fellow of the American Mathematical Society -Honorary Doctor, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, 2004 -Member, French National Academy of Sciences, 2005 -Computational Fluid Dynamics Award, US Association for Computational Mechanics, 2011 -2020 W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics In addition to his position at the University of Houston, Roland also held various formal, adjunct, visiting and honorary professorship roles with universities all over the world, including: -Honorary Professor, Fudan University, China -Fairchild Distinguished Visiting Scientist, California Institute of Technology, 1988/1989 -Adjunct Professor of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Rice University, 1986-present -Docent Professor of Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland: 2001-present -Assistant, Associate, Full and Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris VI): 1970-2000. Emeritus Professor since 2000. -Lecturer in Computational and Applied Mathematics at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France: 1968- 1985 -Visiting Professor, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, 2008 -Visiting Professor, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, 2008-2015 -Visiting Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2015 Aside from his passion for mathematics Roland had many hobbies and interests. He developed a keen fascination for astronomy at a young age as well as science fiction, drawing pictures of stars and planets as a child. He could always be found devouring one or several books at the same time. He grew a passion for fishing from his other mentor, Roger Lucas, the husband of Madeleine Botineau. Most of all, Roland was dedicated to his family and his dear wife of 58 years, Angela, his strongest supporter and cheerleader throughout his career. Finally, Roland was known, in the applied mathematics community, among his friends, his family members and all who met him for his unique love of others, kindness, empathy and compassion. He was truly highly loved and respected by everyone. He will be missed dearly and is profoundly grieved. He is survived by his wife Angela, brother Albert Glowinski, daughters Dr. Anne Glowinski and Tania Glowinski Gonzalez, grand-children Jacques, Théo, and Sammy Fehr, Joshua and Eliora Glowinski Gonzalez, sons-in-law Jim Fehr and Juan Gonzalez and nephews Julien and François Glowinski.

Professor Roland Glowinski

March 9, 1937 - January 26, 2022