Allen Taflove

Who is Allen Taflove?

Allen Taflove is a full professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, since 1988. Since 1972, he has pioneered basic theoretical approaches, numerical algorithms, and applications of finite-difference time-domain computational solutions of Maxwell's equations. He coined the descriptors "finite difference time domain" and "FDTD" in the 1980 paper, "Application of the finite-difference time-domain method to sinusoidal steady-state electromagnetic penetration problems," IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 22, pp. 191–202, Aug. 1980 doi:10.1109/TEMC.1980.303879. In 1990, he was the first person to be named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in the FDTD area. In July 2013, he was named the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Electromagnetics Award with the following citation: "For contributions to the development and application of finite-difference time-domain solutions of Maxwell's equations across the electromagnetic spectrum."