Stephen R. Hilbert is an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

best known as co-author of the

Bramble–Hilbert lemma In mathematics, particularly numerical analysis, the Bramble–Hilbert lemma (mathematics), lemma, named after James H. Bramble and Stephen Hilbert, bounds the approximation error, error of an approximation of a function (mathematics), function \tex ...

, which he published with

James H. Bramble James Henry Bramble (December 1, 1930 – July 20, 2021) was an American mathematician known for his fundamental contributions in the development of the finite element methods, including the Bramble–Hilbert lemma,J. H. Bramble and S. R. Hilbert. ...

in 1970. Hilbert's area of specialty is

numerical analysis Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...

. He has been a professor of mathematics at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

since 1968. Additionally, he taught mathematics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

as a visiting program professor during the 2003–2004 academic year.

Early life and education

Hilbert was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. As a teenager, he attended Regis High School in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He received his BS in mathematics from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in 1964 and his PhD in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1969. He completed his dissertation, ''Numerical Solutions of Elliptic Partial Differential Equations'', with Bramble as his advisor.

Awards and honors

*Distinguished College Teaching of Mathematics Award – 1994 – Seaway Section of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

*Dana Teaching Fellow – 1985 *Dana Teaching Fellow – 1982 *Outstanding Faculty Award – 1979 – School of Humanities and Sciences, Ithaca College

Publications

*''Barron's GMAT''. Jaffe, Eugene D., and Stephen Hilbert, 2009, Barron's Educational Series, , 497 pgs *''Calculus: An Active Approach with Projects''. Hilbert, Stephen, et al., 1993–1994, John Wiley & Sons; Reissued 2010 by Mathematical Association of America, , 307 pgs *''Estimation of Linear Functionals on Sobolev Spaces with Application to Fourier Transforms and Spline Interpolation.'' Bramble, James H., and Stephen R. Hilbert. ''SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis'' (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) (Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar., 1970)): 112–124. *''A Mollifier Useful for Approximations in Sobolev Spaces and Some Applications to Approximating Solutions of Differential Equations''. Hilbert, Stephen. ''Mathematics of Computation'' (American Mathematical Society) (Vol. 27, No. 121 (Jan., 1973)): 81–89.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hilbert, Stephen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Cornell University faculty Ithaca College faculty Mathematicians from New York (state) Academics from New York City Regis High School (New York City) alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni University of Notre Dame alumni