Ray William Clough

Dr.
Ray W. Clough
BornJuly 23, 1920 (1920-07-23)
Seattle, Washington
DiedOctober 8, 2016(2016-10-08) (aged 96)
EducationUniversity of Washington, B.S. (1942), Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sc.D.(1949)
Engineering career
Disciplinestructural engineering, earthquake engineering
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Berkeley
AwardsNational Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Norwegian Scientists Society, Chinese Academy of Engineering, National Medal of Science, Benjamin Franklin Medal

Ray William Clough, (July 23, 1920 – October 8, 2016), was Byron L. and Elvira E. Nishkian Professor of structural engineering in the department of civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the founders of the finite element method (FEM). His 1956 article was one of the first applications of this computational method. He coined the term "finite elements" in an article in 1960. He was born in Seattle and died on October 8, 2016, aged 96.