So after studying the Runge-Kutta method, I looked around the web to see what these guys were about (and how to pronounce it).  Here is the pronunciation for all those who were wondering:(roon-ge cut-ah)  It turns out they are both german mathematicians rocking (or at least in some pictures) some serious mustaches.  Behind the staches though, there were some serious scholars, studying not only numerical differential equations, but also things such as astrophysics, air flight, and elemental spectral analysis.  For Carle Runge’s contributions to the scientific world, he was recognized by having a crater on the moon named after him : Runge crater.  Now on to Kutta:  Kutta’s main interests (besides mathematics) was aero-space engineering and (suprisingly different) glaciers.  He had some great contributions such as the Zhukovsky- Kutta  theorem giving the lift on an aerofoil (this is around 1900 which is right around the first flights).  For the latter interest, he would make maps of where glaciers are/had been from pictures taken.  He would use math to make a relative size map.  Towards the end of Kutta’s life, his teacher commented on the fact, that although “I never met a mathematician who had such a deep interest and familiarity with so many different areas of mental activity as Kutta” nevertheless he “was a lonely man.”  Anyway, thanks for making life easier without having to evaluate millions of derivatives, even though some of our homeworks still make us evaluate them. Sources : Wikipedia, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Kutta.html.

    Carle Runge: Taken from Wikipedia