George Fix

George J. Fix (1939–2002) was an American mathematician who collaborated on several seminal papers and books in the field of finite element method. In addition to his work in mathematics, Fix was a beer and homebrewing enthusiast and educator, as well as the author of several books about brewing. He died of cancer in 2002.

Education

Fix was born and grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Texas A&M University on a baseball scholarship, where he earned a Bachelor of Science. He received his Master of Science degree from Rice University, and in 1968, he earned a Ph.D from Harvard.

Professor of mathematics

After earning his Ph.D, Fix stayed at Harvard as an assistant professor until 1972. While there, he met Gilbert Strang, and collaborated with him on a paper regarding the Fourier analysis of finite element methods (FEM). In 1973, he and Strang published An Analysis of the Finite Element Method, a book that gave the latest advances in FEM "publicity and respectability". (Max Gunzburger of Iowa State University called it "one of the most important and influential applied mathematics books ever published.")