An expert in numerical analysis, Dr. de Boor is the author of more than 150 papers and four books. In 2003, he won the U.S. National Medal of Science. He has earned world recognition for his work on spline functions, mathematical expressions that describe free-form curves and surfaces. In particular, Dr. de Boor developed simpler approaches to complex spline calculations, a contribution that revolutionized computer-aided geometric design. His work is now routinely applied in a range of fields that rely on precise geometry, including the use of special effects in films, and in the aircraft and automotive industries.
Dr. de Boor grew up in East Germany and came to the United States in 1959. He received a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1966 and joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1972. Until 2003, Dr. de Boor was the Steenbock Professor of Mathematical Sciences and the P.L. Chebyshev Professor of Mathematics and Computer Sciences. He was awarded the John von Neumann Prize by SIAM in 1996. In 1993 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1997 to the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. de Boor also is a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher (1998) and a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2000). He holds honorary doctorates from Purdue University (1993) and the Technion in Israel (2002).