The Householder Symposia originated in a series of meetings organized by Alston Householder, Director of the Mathematics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Ford Professor at the University of Tennessee. These international meetings were devoted to matrix computations and linear algebra and were held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They had a profound influence on the subject.

The last “Gatlinburg” conference held at Gatlinburg was in 1969 on the occasion of Householder’s retirement. At the time, it was decided to continue the meetings but vary the place. Since then meetings have been held at three-year intervals in a variety of venues and the series has been renamed in honor of Alston Householder.

The meetings, which last for five days, are by invitation only. They are intensive, with plenary talks in the day and special sessions in the evenings. To encourage people to talk about work in progress, no proceedings are published, although extended abstracts are circulated. The response of the participants to the meetings has generally been very enthusiastic.

The conferences are run in tandem by a permanent organizing committee and a local arrangements committee. Although attendance is restricted, anyone - including students - can apply. Selection is made by the organizing committee, generally by ballot.

The meeting is also the occasion for the award of the Householder prize for the best thesis in numerical linear algebra. This prize is entirely (and well) supported by contributions solicited at the Symposium banquet.

Previous Householder Symposia

# Year Place Organizers
XXI 2022 Selva di Fasano, italy H. Fassbender, N. Mastronardi
XX 2017 Blacksburg, USA J. Nagy, M. Embree
XIX 2014 Spa, Belgium I. Ipsen, P. Van Dooren
XVIII 2011 Tahoe City, USA Esmond G. Ng, M. Overton
XVII 2008 Zeuthen, Germany J. Liesen, V. Mehrmann, R. Nabben, A. Bunse-Gerstner
XVI 2005 Seven Springs, USA J. Barlow, D. Szyld, H. Zha, C. Van Loan
XV 2002 Peebles, Scotland P. Knight, A. Ramage, A. Wathen, N.J. Higham
XIV 1999 Whistler, BC, Canada J.M. Varah, G.W. Stewart
XIII 1996 Pontresina, Switzerland W. Gander, M.H. Gutknecht, D.P. O'Leary
XII 1993 Lake Arrowhead, USA T.F. Chan, G.H. Golub
XI 1990 Tylosand, Sweden A. Bjorck
X 1987 Fairfield Glade, USA R.C. Ward, G.W. Stewart
IX 1984 Waterloo, Canada J.A. George
VIII 1981 Oxford, England L. Fox, J.H. Wilkionson
VII 1977 Asilomar, USA G.H. Golub
VI 1974 Hopfen am See, Germany F.L. Bauer
V 1972 Los Alamos, USA R.S. Varga
IV 1969 Gatlinburg, USA A.S. Housholder
III 1964 Gatlinburg, USA A.S. Householder
II 1963 Gatlinburg, USA A.S. Householder, F.W.J. Olver
I 1961 Gatlinburg, USA A.S. Householder