engineering

Ray William Clough

Ray William Clough is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ray William Clough rather than just read about it. In short: 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).

Key takeaways

Ray William Clough belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ray William Clough to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ray William Clough from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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.

Contributions Clough made contributions in the field of earthquake engineering, in particular with the development and application of a mathematical method, finite element analysis, which has applications in numerical modeling of the physical world. Dr. Clough extended the method to enable dynamic analysis of complex structures and co-authored, with Joseph Penzien, a text on structural dynamics. As of 2025, the second edition (revised) of this text is still in print and widely used. A series of papers that appeared in the 1960s and 1970s presented new and accurate methods utilizing the finite element concept for earthquake analysis of earth dams and concrete dams. During the 1970s and 1980s he directed his research toward experiments on concrete, steel, and masonry buildings and liquid-storage tanks using the UC Berkeley EERC shaking table. Clough and Joe Penzien with support from Jack Bouwkamp developed the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (EERC) at UC Berkeley, a hub for analytical engineering research, information resources, and public service programs. The proposal was submitted in 1967 and EERC began operations in 1968.

Awards and honors The Prince Philip Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering in London National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering (1968), the Royal Norwegian Scientists Society the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was awarded the A. Cemal Eringen Medal (1992), George W. Housner Medal by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (1996). In 1994, Vice President Al Gore presented Clough with a National Medal of Science. The citation reads For his outstanding contributions in the fields of finite element analysis, structural dynamics, and earthquake engineering which had extraordinary influence in the development of modern engineering. In 2006 he was presented the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Civil Engineering from The Franklin Institute.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ray William Clough

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ray William Clough claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ray William Clough before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ray William Clough ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ray William Clough

In research: Ray William Clough appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ray William Clough in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ray William Clough is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2016 deaths, American structural engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ray William Clough outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Ray William Clough” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Ray William Clough in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ray William Clough means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ray William Clough out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ray William Clough in simple terms?

Why does Ray William Clough matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ray William Clough?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ray William Clough.