Roland Bulirsch was born into modest circumstances on 10.11.1932 in Reichenberg (Bohemia). He experienced occupation, war and consequently the forced migration. From 1947 – 1951 he did an apprenticeship at Siemens-Schuckert in Nürnberg as a machine engineer and continued to work there until 1954. After taking his A-Level exams, he studied Mathematics and Physics at the Technical Highschool of Munich. After completing his diploma in 1959, he continued to do a PhD in 1961 and habilitated in 1965 in Mathematics, also in Munich. In this period he developed the extrapolation method (together with J. Stoer)
He was appointed Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego in 1967 and only two years later, in 1969, was promoted to a Full Professorship. There he developed the multi-target method, and researched on arithmetic -geometric processes towards the solution of eleptic integrals. In 1969 he was appointed full professor for mathematic at the University of Cologne, before returning to Munich in 1972 to take up a professorship at the TU München, where he remained until his retirement in 2001.
Roland Bulirsch was an excellent teacher and an enthusiastic researcher: more than 200 diploma theses, 40 dissertations and 12 habilitations are just a partial witness of his immense influence. He embodied the ideal mathematician, being able to explain highly complicated facts in a simple, understandable manner.
Amongst others, Bulirsch was co-publicist for numerous journals, a member of the TUM Senate and twice Dean of the Department of Mathematics. For more than a decade he was active as an external reviewer for the DFG (German Research Foundation), including four years as chairman of the subject area Mathematics.
He was awarded four honorary doctorate degrees, was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences since 1991 and was endowed with the Bavarian Maximilian Medal in 1998, amongst many other awards.
He held a passionate interest for political and cultural themes, whilst his private interests included cultivating rare orchids, alongside music, art and astronomy.
We will honor his memory with gratitude.
Rainer Callies, Peter Rentrop