John Charles Butcher is a mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

 who specialises in numerical methods for the solution of ordinary differential equations. Butcher works on multistage methods for initial value problem

Initial value problem

In mathematics, in the field of differential equations, an initial value problem is an ordinary differential equation together with a specified value, called the initial condition, of the unknown function at a given point in the domain of the solution...

s, such as Runge-Kutta and general linear methods. The Butcher group

Butcher group

In mathematics, the Butcher group, named after the New Zealand mathematician John C. Butcher by , is an infinite-dimensional group first introduced in numerical analysis to study solutions of non-linear ordinary differential equations by the Runge–Kutta method...

 is named after him.

More recently, he is investigating a new type of method with stability identical to that of a Runge-Kutta method.

Positions held

• Lecturer, University of Sydney
  University of Sydney
  The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
  
  , 1959–1961.
• Senior Lecturer, University of Canterbury
  University of Canterbury
  The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...
  
  , 1961–1964.
• Computer Scientist, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
  Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
  The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S...
  
  , 1965–1966.
• Professor of Mathematics, University of Auckland
  University of Auckland
  The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...
  
  , 1966–1979.
• Head of Mathematics Department, University of Auckland, 1967–1973.
• Founded Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, 1980.
• Professor of Computer Science, University of Auckland, 1980–1988.
• Head of Applied and Computational Mathematics Unit, University of Auckland, 1989–1994, 1997–1998.
• Professor of Mathematics, University of Auckland, 1989–1998.
• Honorary Research Professor,University of Auckland,1999–2011.
• Honorary Research Professor, Massey University ,2011–Present.

External links

• Home page