# Cleve Moler
**Cleve Barry Moler** (August 1939 – May 20, 2026) was an American numerical analyst and computer scientist, the creator of MATLAB, a co-author of the LINPACK and EISPACK Fortran libraries, and a cofounder of [MathWorks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mathworks), where he served as chief mathematician and chairman.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997, he spent almost 20 years as a professor of mathematics and computer science before turning MATLAB from a teaching tool into a commercial success in scientific and engineering applications.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) • [2](https://history.siam.org/pdfs2/Moler_final.pdf) He died on May 20, 2026, at the age of 86.[3](https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Salt Lake City, Utah, August 1939[4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) |
| Died | May 20, 2026, aged 86, at his home in Maryland[3](https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/) • [5](https://mobileapp.bostonglobe.com/06152026_69491aba-681d-11f1-9349-d05287dbaf8a/content.html) |
| Education | BS mathematics, Caltech, 1961; MS 1963 and PhD 1965, Stanford University, advised by George Forsythe[4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) • [6](https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=7743) |
| Academic posts | University of Michigan 1966–1972; University of New Mexico 1972–1984, computer science chairman 1980–1984[7](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2008.2) |
| Signature work | MATLAB (first version late 1970s); LINPACK and EISPACK Fortran libraries[8](https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html) • [9](https://netlib.org/utk/people/JackDongarra/PAPERS/Chapter2-LINPACK.pdf) |
| MathWorks | Cofounded December 7, 1984; chief mathematician and chairman[10](https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/department/Images%20and%20Content/news-channel/2026/06/2026-06-04-cleve-moler/Nachruf.pdf) • [1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) |
| Honors | National Academy of Engineering (1997); IEEE John von Neumann Medal; IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award; Sidney Fernbach Award; two SIAM awards[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) • [4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) |
| Reach of MATLAB | More than four million users[11](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/) |
## Education and early career
Moler was born in August 1939 in [Salt Lake City](https://www.edgepedia.org/salt-lake-city), Utah. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Caltech in 1961, followed by a PhD in mathematics from Stanford University in 1965, where he studied under George Forsythe.[4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) According to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, his dissertation, *Finite Difference Methods for the Eigenvalues of Laplace's Operator*, extended Forsythe's approach by using finite difference methods to calculate upper and lower bounds for eigenvalues of Laplace equations.[6](https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=7743) • [7](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2008.2) The primary example was the L-shaped membrane, whose eigenfunction later became the MATLAB logo; the computations for that publication were carried out during a postdoctoral year at [ETH Zurich](https://www.edgepedia.org/eth-zurich).[8](https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html) • [12](https://inf.ethz.ch/news-and-events/spotlights/infk-news-channel/2026/06/abschied-von-cleve-moler.html)
His academic career is recorded with precise dates. According to *Cleve Moler: Mathematical Software Pioneer and Creator of Matlab*, he was a Stanford instructor in 1965 and an [Office of Naval Research](https://www.edgepedia.org/office-of-naval-research) research associate at ETH Zurich in 1965–1966, then joined the University of Michigan mathematics department as assistant professor from 1966 to 1970 and associate professor from 1970 to 1972.[7](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2008.2) • [4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) At the [University of New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-new-mexico) he was associate professor of mathematics from 1972 to 1974 and professor from 1974 to 1982, then professor and chairman of the computer science department from 1980 to 1984.[7](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2008.2) He supervised 16 PhD students, 11 of whom went on to academic careers.[4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/)
## LINPACK and EISPACK
During the 1970s, Moler participated in the EISPACK and LINPACK projects conducted at [Argonne National Laboratory](https://www.edgepedia.org/argonne-national-laboratory), and he discussed this work in a SIAM oral history.[2](https://history.siam.org/pdfs2/Moler_final.pdf) LINPACK consists of Fortran subroutines for analyzing and solving systems whose matrices are general, banded, symmetric indefinite, symmetric positive definite, triangular, and tridiagonal, and it also covers least squares problems.[9](https://netlib.org/utk/people/JackDongarra/PAPERS/Chapter2-LINPACK.pdf) According to MathWorks, together with EISPACK, these widely used Fortran subroutine libraries for matrix computation were foundational to numerical computing.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html)
## MATLAB and the founding of MathWorks
**MATLAB began as a teaching tool.** In the late 1970s, while teaching at [New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-mexico), Moler wanted, according to the University of New Mexico's Center for Advanced Research Computing, to give students a user-friendly way to run the linear algebra libraries he was writing, at first through a Teletype machine.[11](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/) According to Moler's article *The Origins of MATLAB*, following the methodology of [Niklaus Wirth](https://www.edgepedia.org/niklaus-wirth), he wrote the first version in Fortran using portions of LINPACK and EISPACK; the only data type was "matrix," which is why he called it MATLAB, short for Matrix Laboratory.[8](https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html) • [11](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/) The package was freely distributed for teaching use.[2](https://history.siam.org/pdfs2/Moler_final.pdf)
In 1984 Moler resigned his New Mexico professorship and, with two partners, founded MathWorks, Inc. in California on December 7, 1984, to commercialize MATLAB on the new IBM PC.[10](https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/department/Images%20and%20Content/news-channel/2026/06/2026-06-04-cleve-moler/Nachruf.pdf) • [4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) As chief mathematician he created new algorithms and educated the MATLAB community through a long-running series of articles called Cleve's Corner.[10](https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/department/Images%20and%20Content/news-channel/2026/06/2026-06-04-cleve-moler/Nachruf.pdf) MathWorks' own founder page records his titles as chief mathematician, chairman, and cofounder; the IEEE Annals history article records him as chief scientist and chairman.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) • [7](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2008.2)
## Representative work
His 1967 textbook with Forsythe, *Computer Solution of Linear Algebraic Systems*, was later listed by the [Association for Computing Machinery](https://www.edgepedia.org/association-for-computing-machinery) as an important early text in computer science and is still considered a classic in the field.[8](https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html) • [5](https://mobileapp.bostonglobe.com/06152026_69491aba-681d-11f1-9349-d05287dbaf8a/content.html) Among his papers, one popular paper is "Nineteen Dubious Ways to Compute the Exponential of a Matrix," a survey of numerical methods.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) He was also coauthor of three traditional textbooks on numerical methods and author of the online books *Numerical Computing with MATLAB* and *Experiments with MATLAB*.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html)
## Honors
Moler was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997.[1](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html) His other awards include the IEEE John von Neumann Medal, the IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award, the Sidney Fernbach Award, and two SIAM awards.[4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) He was named a Computer History Museum Fellow in 2017.[3](https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/)
## What later work made of MATLAB
The second generation of MATLAB, released as PC-Matlab, PRO-Matlab, and MACMatlab, was newly designed and written entirely in C, no longer relying on LINPACK and EISPACK.[10](https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/department/Images%20and%20Content/news-channel/2026/06/2026-06-04-cleve-moler/Nachruf.pdf) From that freely distributed teaching package MATLAB grew into a commercial success in scientific and engineering applications, used by millions across aerospace, genetics, finance, and engineering.[2](https://history.siam.org/pdfs2/Moler_final.pdf) • [3](https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/) By 2016 MATLAB ranked 14th in IEEE Spectrum's programming language rankings and MathWorks had 4,000 employees in two dozen cities.[4](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/) Today MATLAB has more than four million users.[11](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/) In 2024 the University of New Mexico established the Cleve Moler and MathWorks Endowed Chair in Mathematical and Engineering Software.[11](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/)
## Death and legacy
Moler died on May 20, 2026, at the age of 86, at his home surrounded by his family, according to the [Computer History Museum](https://www.edgepedia.org/computer-history-museum).[3](https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/) The University of New Mexico records that he died from [Parkinson's disease](https://www.edgepedia.org/parkinsons-disease); the Boston Globe places his home in Saint Michaels, Maryland.[11](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/) • [5](https://mobileapp.bostonglobe.com/06152026_69491aba-681d-11f1-9349-d05287dbaf8a/content.html) ETH Zurich, where he had spent a formative research stay in the 1960s, recorded his death the following month.[12](https://inf.ethz.ch/news-and-events/spotlights/infk-news-channel/2026/06/abschied-von-cleve-moler.html) His legacy is visible in daily computational practice: an L-shaped membrane eigenfunction that still serves as the MATLAB logo.[12](https://inf.ethz.ch/news-and-events/spotlights/infk-news-channel/2026/06/abschied-von-cleve-moler.html) • [8](https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html)
## References
1. [MathWorks – Founders – Cleve Moler](https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/founders/clevemoler.html)
2. [SIAM oral history interview with Cleve Moler](https://history.siam.org/pdfs2/Moler_final.pdf)
3. [Computer History Museum – In Memoriam: Cleve Moler (1939–2026)](https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/)
4. [Computer History Museum – Cleve Moler profile](https://computerhistory.org/profile/cleve-moler/)
5. [Boston Globe – Cleve Moler, mathematician who unlocked the power of computing for millions, at 86](https://mobileapp.bostonglobe.com/06152026_69491aba-681d-11f1-9349-d05287dbaf8a/content.html)
6. [The Mathematics Genealogy Project – Cleve Moler](https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=7743)
7. ["Cleve Moler: Mathematical Software Pioneer and Creator of Matlab," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 30(1)](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2008.2)
8. [Cleve Moler, "The Origins of MATLAB" (MathWorks)](https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/the-origins-of-matlab.html)
9. [LINPACK chapter (netlib)](https://netlib.org/utk/people/JackDongarra/PAPERS/Chapter2-LINPACK.pdf)
10. [Walter Gander, "Obituary for Cleve Moler" (ETH Zurich)](https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/department/Images%20and%20Content/news-channel/2026/06/2026-06-04-cleve-moler/Nachruf.pdf)
11. [University of New Mexico CARC – Remembering Cleve Moler](https://carc.unm.edu/news/cleve-moler-memoriam/)
12. [ETH Zurich – Farewell to Cleve Moler](https://inf.ethz.ch/news-and-events/spotlights/infk-news-channel/2026/06/abschied-von-cleve-moler.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Mathematicians and statisticians › Researchers in applied mathematics, optimization, and scientific computing › Numerical linear algebra*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license