Paul Garabedian

Paul R. Garabedian, a mathematician whose computer computations helped lead to fuel-efficient wings for modern jetliners, died May 13 at his home in Manhattan of prostate cancer. He was 82.

Dr. Garabedian was a professor of mathematics and the director of the division of computational fluid dynamics at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Paul Roesel Garabedian was born in Cincinnati on Aug. 2, 1927, and was taught at home by his parents, who both held Harvard graduate degrees. Harvard rejected him when he applied for college at 16, and he attended Brown University instead. After graduating from Brown, he went to Harvard for his master’s and doctoral studies, completing his Ph.D. in 1948.

After working for one year at the University of California, Berkeley, and nine years at Stanford, Dr. Garabedian joined New York University and remained there for the next 51 years.

He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Garabedian is survived by his wife, Lynnel; two daughters, Emily Garabedian of Riverside, Calif., and Catherine Garabedian of Boston; and two grandchildren.

Source of excerpts: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/us/03garabedian.html