Householder Symposium XV, 2002

History of the Householder Symposia

The Householder Symposia originated in a series of meetings organized by Alston Householder, Director of the Mathematics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Ford Professor at the University of Tennessee. These international meetings were devoted to matrix computations and linear algebra and were held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They had a profound influence on the subject.

The last "Gatlinburg" conference was held in 1969 on the occasion of Householder's retirement. At the time, it was decided to continue the meetings but vary the place. Since then meetings have been held at three year intervals in a variety of venues.

The meetings, which last for five days, are restricted to about 125 people. They are intensive, with plenary talks in the day and special sessions in the evenings. To encourage people to talk about work in progress, no proceedings are published, although extended abstracts are circulated. The response of the participants to the meetings has been uniformly enthusiastic.

The conferences are run in tandem by a permanent organising committee and a local arrangements committee. Although attendance is restricted, anyone - including students - can apply. Selection is made by the organising committee, generally by ballot.

The meeting is also the occasion for the award of the Householder prize for the best thesis in numerical linear algebra. This prize is entirely (and well) supported by contributions solicited at the Symposium banquet.

Here is a complete list of the symposia: