INSIDE STORY

“With visions of their fledgling field’s success during World War II still dancing in their heads and eager to train their technical talents on peace-time problems in industry and business, 73 individuals from academia, the military and corporate America gathered at the Arden Estate in Harriman, N.Y., on May 26, 1952, to map out plans for a professional organization that would carry the O.R. banner in the United States. They emerged at the end of the historic day as the founding fathers of the Operations Research Society of America.”

Those were the words I used in 2002 to launch a special issue of OR/MS Today marking the 50th anniversary of ORSA. In researching my contribution to the issue, I had, as they say at award presentations, the “distinct honor and privilege” of interviewing a handful of the founding fathers who were actually at the Arden Estate on that history day: William W. Cooper (the first president of ORSA), Andrew Vazsonyi (the first past president of ORSA; it’s a fun story and one that the late professor loved to tell), C. West Churchman (philosopher, scholar and the first editor-in-chief of Management Science) and David Hertz (a president of both ORSA and The Institute of Management Sciences – TIMS – founded a year after ORSA).

Imagine writing a 2,000-word essay on the history of the United States and chatting about it with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. That’s sort of what I experienced talking to these gentlemen.

I was reminded of the rich history that operations research and management science enjoy and the wonderful people who helped make it by a couple of recent events. One was the sad news that David Hertz had died on June 13 at the age of 92 (see page 56). The second event was happier news: Springer had just published “Profiles in Operations Research: Pioneers and Innovators” (see page 56). Written, complied and edited by Arjang Assad and Saul Gass, the book profiles 43 pillars of O.R. including the aforementioned Messrs. Cooper, Vazsonyi, Churchman and Hertz, along with such other luminaries as Russ Ackoff, Al Blumstein, George Dantzig, George Kimball, John D.C. Little, Philip Morse and many, many more.

In the book’s preface, Assad and Gass note that while some of the pioneers are still alive and others have passed away, the work and writings of all of them remain readily accessible, as do the remembrances of their family, friends and colleagues. “We felt we had a window of opportunity to capture the story of these pioneers as they charted their courses through the early years of O.R. and saw it mature as a field,” they write. “The readers … will be exposed to a history of the origins and early development of O.R. – how it evolved – interwoven with personal backgrounds, tales, vignettes and pictures.”

As a history buff and longtime editor of OR/MS Today, I can’t wait to read the book. As mentioned, I’ve had the honor of meeting several of the pioneers before. Now I’m looking forward to learning more about those I already know … and knowing more about all the others I never had a chance to meet.

To order the book, visit: http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/operations+research/book/978-1-4419-6280-5
— Peter Horner, editor
peter.horner@mail.informs.org