A numerical analyst is a person who works in the field of numerical analysis, the study of approximate but accurate solutions to hard problems.
Early numerical analysis was done by astronomers and civil engineers.
A pure mathematician may be satisfied with a proof that a unique solution to a problem exists; a numerical analyst goes further to develop a procedure for actually computing the solution in a reasonable time and within a specified accuracy.
The origins of modern numerical analysis are often linked to the 1947 paper by John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine, but others consider modern numerical analysis to go back to 1912 E. T. Whittaker.
Some notable numerical analysts include Nick TrefethenDouglas Hartree.