Video Excerpt

IRV
How did the series of the Symposia on Mathematical Programming get started?

GEORGE
The various Symposia on Mathematical Programming started in the 1950's and were numbered 1, 2, 3, ... But the one that really started the series was a remarkable conference organized by Tjalling Koopmans. It was in 1949 and was entitled "Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation".

People who were involved in the war effort had some kind of job but not what they really wanted to do. So they were looking for a new outlet, something different. Koopmans was an economist at the University of Chicago Coast Foundation. He was very influential and introduced a lot of people to the whole field. For example, Ken Arrow, who was one of the first people to get the Nobel Prize in Economics.

In fact, all the young economists who presented papers at this conference - Tjalling Koopmans, Kenneth Arrow, Herb Simons, Paul Samuelson - later received the Nobel Prize in Economics.

What was most remarkable about the 1949 conference is that it took place only two years after I first formulated the linear programming problem. Two years afterwards we had a conference that produced these proceedings. And you can read this book, today, it is just as up to date. Because in those days, everybody who was involved in the war effort was hungry to do something. Some realized this was a new field with great potential.

Previous

Next