James H. Bramble ’53

James H. Bramble ’53, of Austin, Tex.; July 20. He worked at General Electric and the Naval Ordnance Laboratory before becoming a professor at the University of Maryland and then at Cornell University, where he led the interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics. From 1975 to 1983 he was chief editor of Mathematics of Computation. He retired as distinguished professor emeritus at Texas A&M University. He also was professor emeritus at Cornell. He worked on the mathematical analysis of numerical methods for partial differential equations. His early work involved the mathematical analysis of finite difference methods for elliptic problems. His later work was more focused on the numerical analysis of finite element methods. His most famous result, the Bramble-Hilbert lemma, was a collaborative effort with his PhD student, Stephen Hilbert. He received an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University in Sweden in recognition of his important contributions to mathematics. In retirement he settled in Austin and enjoyed playing golf, tennis, and boating. He is survived by four children, a stepson, eight grandchildren, and his former wife, Mary Eppie Boze.