Dr. Ray W. Clough | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 23, 1920 (1920-07-23) Seattle, Washington |
| Died | October 8, 2016(2016-10-08) (aged 96) |
| Education | University of Washington, B.S. (1942),Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sc.D.(1949) |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | structural engineering,earthquake engineering |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Awards | National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Norwegian Scientists Society, Chinese Academy of Engineering, National Medal of Science, Benjamin Franklin Medal |
Ray William Clough, (July 23, 1920 – October 8, 2016), was Byron L. and Elvira E. Nishkian Professor ofstructural engineering in the department ofcivil engineering at theUniversity of California, Berkeley and one of the founders of thefinite element method (FEM). His 1956 article was one of the first applications of this computational method.[1] He coined the term "finite elements" in an article in 1960.[2] He was born inSeattle[3] and died on October 8, 2016, aged 96.[4]
Clough made contributions in the field of earthquake engineering, in particular with the development and application of a mathematical method,finite element analysis, which has applications in numerical modeling of the physical world.[5]: 197–201 Dr. Clough extended the method to enabledynamic analysis of complex structures and co-authored, with Joseph Penzien, a text onstructural dynamics.[6] As of 2025, the second edition (revised) of this text is still in print and widely used.[according to whom?]
A series of papers that appeared in the 1960s and 1970s presented new and accurate methods utilizing the finite element concept for earthquake analysis of earth dams and concrete dams.[7] During the 1970s and 1980s he directed his research toward experiments on concrete, steel, and masonry buildings and liquid-storage tanks using the UC Berkeley EERC shaking table.[8]
Clough and Joe Penzien with support fromJack Bouwkamp developed the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (EERC) at UC Berkeley, a hub for analytical engineering research, information resources, and public service programs.[5]: 207–210 The proposal was submitted in 1967 and EERC began operations in 1968.[9]
