With sadness we announce that CWI Fellow and former CWI researcher Piet Hemker passed away on 27 May, at the age of 77 years. Hemker had been working at CWI from 1970 until his retirement in 2006. Since 1989 he has also been an endowed professor at the UvA. In 2001 he was elected CWI Fellow and in 2006 he was named Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw).
Piet Hemker has helped to shape numerical mathematics in the Netherlands for many years. He contributed with important innovative scientific research to, among others, multigrid methods, defect correction, numerical methods for compressible flows, and manifold mapping. Even after his retirement, Piet was still often actively present at seminars, thinking along with numerical mathematics problems.
Piet has meant a lot to both CWI and the Dutch-Flemish Scientific Computing Society, to the latter one as a driving force, active organizer and as loyal supporter of its activities. He was secretary of this Society from 1979 to 1992. During his career, Piet Hemker has fulfilled bridging functions for many years: not only between mathematics and industry, but also between scientists in Eastern and Western Europe, taking the initiative to collaborate with Eastern European mathematicians.
We will remember him with great gratitude.
Piet Hemker receiving his royal decoration at CWI on 17 November 2006 from Lodewijk Asscher, who was at the time alderman in Amsterdam. Picture: CWI.
More information:
• news item on the royal decoration in 2006 (in Dutch)
