Preface

CIRM Luminy, Nov. 2021

This issue contains the papers following the international conference Numerical Methods and Scientific Computing (Méthodes numériques et calcul scientifique) held at Centre international de Rencontres Mathématiques (CIRM), Luminy, France, from 8 to 12 November 2021.

CIRM is a special meeting place dedicated to international seminars and research in mathematics. It is managed by the Société Mathématique de France and supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the Aix-Marseille Université. It is located in the south of France, in a nice place near Marseille above the Calanques.

Around 2 years before the date for a meeting, the organizers have to send a detailed proposal to the International Scientific Committee of CIRM which decides to accept or to reject it and, if accepted, allows a week for it. At first, we found that our dates were a little bit late in the autumn since the weather, even in the south of France, could be chilly. But, finally, we were lucky because we benefit of a pause in the covid pandemic. Thus, 44 participants were able to come to Luminy from many different countries, and 33 more participants attended by video. The atmosphere of the meeting was very enjoyable since we were quite happy to meet again in person after such a long time without congresses. Several participants were friends for more than 40 years. As usual at CIRM, we had a banquet on Wednesday evening with aperitif, bouillabaisse, red and white wines, French champagne, and after-dinner talks.

The scientific presentations covered a large scope: approximation theory, extrapolation, orthogonal polynomials, quadrature methods, differential and integral equations, nonlinear equations, numerical linear algebra, and history of numerical analysis.

The organizers of the conference were, in alphabetical order, Bernhard Beckermann (University of Lille, France), Claude Brezinski (University of Lille, France), Zélia Da Rocha (University of Porto, Portugal), Giuseppe Rodriguez (University of Cagliari, Italy), and Michela Redivo-Zaglia (University of Padua, Italy). The scientific committee was composed by Kathy Driver (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Ana Matos (University of Lille, France), Gérard Meurant (former Deputy Director at CEA, France), Lothar Reichel (Kent State University, USA), and Hassane Sadok (University of Littoral - Côte d’Opale, France). The conference was sponsored by the French scientific society SMAI-SIGMA, the Laboratoire Paul Painlevé/Fédération/Labex CEMPI from the University of Lille (France), the Department of Mathematics “Tullio Levi-Civita” from University of Padua (Italy), and the publisher Springer Verlag, Heidelberg (Germany). Without their financial support, this conference could not have taken place. We thank them. We also would like to express our gratitude to all members of CIRM who perfectly managed the organization of such an hybrid conference during this difficult COVID pandemic. In particular, we thank Olivia Barbarroux, responsible for the overall organization, Caren Bohbot and Patrizia Bottesi for managing the accommodation, Nathalie Granottier for her work in the library, Jennifer Vitale who helped us with the budget, Zouhir Hafidi who took care of the computer service, Stéphanie Vareilles for the video production, the chef Olivier Sylvain and all people who prepared the meals and served them, and those who cleaned the buildings.

This conference also offered the opportunity of celebrating the 80th birthday of Claude Brezinski, and the 30th anniversary of the journal Numerical Algorithms that he founded in 1991, and which he is still managing. The great number of submissions received is certainly due to the high level of the journal, but also to the fact that, in the world, Claude has a large number of colleagues and friends that wished to participate in this issue, not only for his long scientific career, but also for his humanity, kindness, and friendship, joint with his rigorous deontology. In addition, several of his 60 students, who after their thesis had a very successful scientific career, wanted to participate to this celebration and show him their gratitude for encouraging them during their studies and for creating a relaxed and friendly working environment in Lille. In the Opening session, two of them, Hassane Sadok, who obtained with him three thesis and who is now the President of the University of Littoral - Côte d’Opale, and myself, presented a funny talk titled A short (unconventional) history of Claude Brezinski (how a scientist is born). A pleasant moment to start a scientifically successful event for which the Organizing and Scientific Committees want to thank all the participants.