Profiles in operations research. Pioneers and innovators (Q992773)

Today, Operations Research (OR) is recognized as a modern, decision-aiding science that has proved to be of great value to management, business and industry. In Ssort, OR is the science of decision making. In the late 1930s, this new science was elaborated to solve operational military problems. The task was to make related tactical and strategic recommendations for military applications. It was called operational research in the UK and operations research in the USA. Only in 1939, Kantorovich dealt with some economic problems in the Soviet Union. The book presents 43 profilers in chronological order, beginning with Patrick Blackett (born in 1897) through Ronald Howard (born in 1934). The 43 profiles were written by 40 authors, they give very useful information about the pioneers and their researches. In many cases the authors were students or colleagues of the persons they profiled. The book is alive because of personal pictures and stories. 21 of the profiled individuals studied mathematics, 4 physics, 5 engineering, and 4 economics. The (mathematical) subjects mentioned in the book are linear and nonlinear programming, integer programming, game theory, network flows, Gozinto diagrams, control theory, artificial intelligence, computer engineering. Most of the profiled scientists were born in the UK or the USA. J. v. Neumann, St. Vajda, A. Vazsonyi were born in Hungary, E. Balas in Romania, B. Roy in France, T. L. Saaty in Iraq and L. V. Kantorovich in Russia. It is remarkable that many of the researchers have family roots in East Europe. The articles are written in a lively matter, some biographies are really thrillers (such as that of Egon Balas). The reader will learn about the life and the work of such famous researchers as P. M. Morse, H. W. Kuhn, A. W. Tucker, J. v. Neumann, L. V. Kantorovich, G. B. Dantzig, A. Vazsonyi, J. W. Forester, R. Bellman, D. R. Fulkerson, P. S. Wolfe, R. E. Gomory, A. Blumstein et al. Two tables in the Appendix inform about the profilers' background (data and place of birth, discipline, year of earning the highest academic degree) and of honors and awards. There are references at the end of every chapter. The book is completed by the authors' biographies (24 pages), acronyms (8 pages), name index (13 pages) and a subject index (19 pages). The book is valuable for students and researchers!