Ted Belytschko was born in Proskurov, Ukraine, on 13 January 1943 but spent most of his life in the US. He secured a BS in engineering sciences (1965) followed by a PhD in mechanics (1968) at the Illinois Institute of Technology before beginning his academic career at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There he served as an assistant professor (1968-73), associate professor (1973-76) and finally professor of structural mechanics (1976-77).

At this point he decided to move to Northwestern Uni-versity in Evanston, Illinois, as professor of computational mechanics (1977-91). The title was later changed to Walter P. Murphy professor of computational mechanics and Professor Belytschko also acted as chairman of Northwestern¡¯s department of mechanical engineering (1997-2002).

A prolific, highly influential researcher, he had a major impact on how engineers design structures. Some of his early work in the new field of ¡°simulation-driven engineering¡± involved testing the computational mechanics of windsurfing on Lake Michigan. This led to innovative forms of virtual prototyping in such fields as car crash analysis; designers now use simulations based on Professor Belytschko¡¯s work rather than driving vehicles into each other.

Labelled ¡°my model for a successful academic¡± and ¡°a titan in the field of mechanics¡±, by Kevin Lynch, chair of Northwestern¡¯s department of mechanical engineering, Professor Belytschko ¡°produced ideas, technology and people that have defined the practice of computational mechanics¡±. His eminence was reflected in his membership of the US National Academy of Engineering, the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - and in the medal that the US Association for Computational Mechanics named in his honour.

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Editor-in-chief of the International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Professor Belytschko was also the co-author of standard texts such as Nonlinear Finite Elements for Continua and Structures (with Wing Kam Liu and Brian Moran, 2000; second edition, 2014) and A First Course in Finite Elements (with Jacob Fish, 2007).

A committed teacher, Professor Belytschko once said that his philosophy was to ¡°give [students] a lot of freedom, because it¡¯s remarkable what these young people can do on their own. And if I hadn¡¯t let them develop on their own, I don¡¯t think I would have the reputation I have. So much of my reputation rests on the contributions of my students.¡±

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Professor Belytschko died on 15 September and is survived by his wife Gail and three children.

matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com