Synopsis
Operations Research: 1934-1941," 35, 1, 143-152; "British The goal of the Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Operational Research in World War II," 35, 3, 453-470; Management Science is to provide to decision makers and "U. S. Operations Research in World War II," 35, 6, 910-925; problem solvers in business, industry, government and and the 1984 article by Harold Lardner that appeared in academia a comprehensive overview of the wide range of Operations Research: "The Origin of Operational Research," ideas, methodologies, and synergistic forces that combine to 32, 2, 465-475. form the preeminent decision-aiding fields of operations re search and management science (OR/MS). To this end, we The Encyclopedia contains no entries that define the fields enlisted a distinguished international group of academics of operations research and management science. OR and MS and practitioners to contribute articles on subjects for are often equated to one another. If one defines them by the which they are renowned. methodologies they employ, the equation would probably The editors, working with the Encyclopedia's Editorial stand inspection. If one defines them by their historical Advisory Board, surveyed and divided OR/MS into specific developments and the classes of problems they encompass, topics that collectively encompass the foundations, applica the equation becomes fuzzy. The formalism OR grew out of tions, and emerging elements of this ever-changing field. We the operational problems of the British and U. s. military also wanted to establish the close associations that OR/MS efforts in World War II.
From the Author
From Michael: It was an honor to co-edit this 3rd edition of the Encyclopedia with Saul Gass, a respected colleague, wonderful friend, and one of the pioneers of operations research and management science (OR/MS). I also recommend two of his other books, An Annotated Timeline of Operations Research: An Informal History, and Profiles in Operations Research: Pioneers and Innovators, as well as the Festschrift volume that I co-edited, Perspectives in Operations Research: Papers in Honor of Saul Gass' 80th Birthday, as nice complements to this Encyclopedia. A little bit more about Saul's background and intimate relationship with the development of the OR/MS field. Saul first served as a mathematician for the Aberdeen Bombing Mission, U.S. Air Force, and then transferred to Air Force Headquarters where he began his career in operations research with the Directorate of Management Analysis, the organization in which linear programming, one of the foundations of operations research, was first developed. For IBM, he was an Applied Science Representative, Manager of the Project Mercury Man-in-Space Program, and Manager of IBM's Federal Civil Programs. He was a member of the Science and Technology Task Force of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement. He was Director of Operations Research for CEIR, Senior Vice-President of World Systems Laboratories, and Vice-President of Mathematica. He has served as a consultant to the U. S. General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other operations research and systems analysis organizations. Included in his many publications are the textbooks Linear Programming (fifth edition) and Decision Making, Models and Algorithms, and the book An Illustrated Guide to Linear Programming. The two linear programming books are now available through Dover Publications.
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