David Gottlieb

David Gottlieb was born in 1944 in Tel Aviv

David Gottlieb was born in Tel Aviv on November 14, 1944.

He began studying mathematics at Tel Aviv University in 1965. He earned a master's degree in applied mathematics there in 1970. In 1972 he became the first student to receive a PhD in applied mathematics from Tel Aviv University, under Saul Abarbanel.

He taught and did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1972 to 1975, then worked as a research scientist at NASA. From 1978 to 1985 he was a professor of applied mathematics at Tel Aviv University and also headed the department. In 1985 he became a professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and chaired its applied mathematics department from 1996 to 1999.

His research dealt with high-order and spectral methods for solving partial differential equations numerically, with a focus on time-dependent problems and stability. He received honorary doctorates from Uppsala University and Paris 6 University. He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2007 and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In 2008 he gave the SIAM Von Neumann Lecture. He remained at Brown until his death on December 6, 2008.