Partnership in Science and Legacy

Ivo and Renata

Ivo and Renata Babuška at UT Austin
Ivo and Renata Babuška

Renata Babuška was more than a life partner - she was a steadfast supporter of Ivo's vision for advancing computational science. Together, they fled their homeland of Cechoslovakia during the Soviet invasion of 1968, coming to America by boat with their two children, Lenka and Vit. They were unable to return for 27 years.

Together, Ivo and Renata left a legacy of gifts to encourage interdisciplinary research and to honor outstanding contributions in mathematics and engineering.

Awards Created

Ivo and Renata Babuška Thesis Prize

American Mathematical Society

Ivo and Renata Babuška Prize

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Ivo and Renata Babuška Scholarship

Oden Institute at UT Austin

Ivo and Renata Babuška Student Award (Maryland)

University of Maryland

Inspiring Future Generations

For nearly two decades, Ivo Babuška was a constant presence in the Oden Institute. Shortly after arriving, he established the biweekly Babuška Forum to expose students to "extraordinary lectures" that would cross the boundaries of math, engineering, and science - a forum that now bears his name.

Babuška's door was open to anyone who knocked and discussions often turned into hours of exploration. He mentored undergraduate interns with the same rigor that he applied to his Ph.D. students. The most intimidating part of a giving a seminar was "the moment Ivo raised his hand."

Babuška was the embodiment of curiosity and discipline and kept the human element at the center of computational science.

Asteroid Babuška

Asteroid Babuška

While attending an international conference in Prague in 2003, Babuška's countrymen surpised him with an announcement that would became one of his life's great joys.

Asteroid No. 36 060, discovered by Dr. Petr Pravec at the Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Academy of Sciences, would be named in Babuška's honor.

Babuška orbits the sun every 1,530 days and is comparable to the size of the island of Manhattan.

Babuška, the man, is reported to have jumped 3 feet off the ground upon hearing the news. True to his curious nature, Babuška soon after began reading the astronomical literature.