Sigurd Falk

Sigurd Falk (born May 6, 1921 in Peine ; † May 2016 ) was a German mathematician, civil engineer and university professor at the TU Braunschweig , who dealt with linear algebra and matrix calculation and their application in structural engineering.

Falk was the illegitimate son of a seamstress and grew up in poor circumstances. After military service in World War II and Soviet captivity he studied civil engineering and mathematics at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he in 1953 when Hermann Schaefer Dr. Ing. Doctorate (the calculation of the natural torsional vibration numbers of branched machine systems) . He is known for a graphic scheme of matrix multiplication ( Falk's scheme ), which he invented in his diploma thesis in mathematics to facilitate the matrix calculations that were still carried out by hand at that time. At the urging of his professor, he published this, although he himself did not consider it particularly remarkable and was later irritated that he was mainly associated with it, despite other algorithms in matrix calculation that he later devised. He qualified as a professor in 1957 in Braunschweig in structural engineering (the reduction process in structural engineering) and in 1963 became a full professor for mechanics and strength theory in Braunschweig. Falk early on dealt with programming electronic calculating machines and generally with numerical linear algebra and its applications in civil engineering. He used in the 1950s, the Zuse Z22 at the Computing Center of the Technical University of Braunschweig (headed by Horst Herrmann ), where he developed a static program for the calculation of continuous beams (transmission method with matrices, also called reduction method) it into machine code (Freiburg code) wrote .

With Rudolf Zurmühl he was co-author of a standard work on matrix calculation. Zurmühl died in 1966 and Falk took care of the subsequent editions.

Fonts

• The calculation of any supported continuous beam according to the reduction method, Ingenieur-Archiv, Volume 24, Issue 3, 1956, pp. 216-232
• The buckling formula for the member with n sections of constant bending stiffness, Ingenieur-Archiv, Volume 24, 1956, Issue 2
• The calculation of framework structures with the help of transition matrices, ZAMM, Volume 37, 1957, Issue 7/8
• The bending vibrations of flat frame structures with immovable nodes, dep. Braunschweig. Knowledge Ges., IX, 1957
• The calculation of open framework structures according to the reduction method, Ingenieur-Archiv, Volume 26, 1958, Issue 1, pp. 61-80
• The calculation of closed frame structures according to the reduction method, Ingenieur-Archiv, Volume 26, 1958, Issue 3, pp. 96-109
• Bending, buckling and swinging of the multi-span straight beam. In: Abhandl. Braunschweig. Knowledge Ges. Volume 7, 1955, pp. 74-92
• The calculation of crankshafts with the help of digital calculators, VDI Reports 30, 1958
• The reduction method of structural engineering: with special consideration of the programmability for digital calculators, Springer 1957 (habilitation)
• Textbook of technical mechanics, 3 volumes, Springer 1967 to 1969
  • Volume 1: The mechanics of the point, Volume 2: The mechanics of the rigid body, Volume 3: The mechanics of the elastic body
• with Rudolf Zurmühl: Matrices and their application, 2 volumes, Springer, 7th edition 1997

Web links

• Biography of J. Schneider, Matheplanet

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sigurd Falk in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)
2. ↑ Falk, A Clear Scheme for Matrix Multiplication, Journal for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Volume 31, 1951, p. 152
3. ↑ Entry in Degener, Habel, Who is who? The German Who`s Who , Schmidt Rönhild 1989
4. ↑ Hermann Flessner, First Work with Zuse Computers, Hamburg, Volume 1, 2nd Edition, 2017, p. 14
5. ↑ It consists of reprints of the work in Ingenieur-Archiv, Volume 23, 1956, pp. 216–232, Volume 26, 1958, pp. 61–80, 96–109