About History & Traditions

This website, a continuing work in process, already includes profiles of more than 230 historic individuals as well as the historic institutions, methodologies and application areas with which they are associated.  It incorporates images, bibliographic citations and links to online material, including oral history interviews, archives, and memoirs.  The great preponderance of material, including relevant papers in INFORMS publications, is open access.  The site is a public resource for research, teaching, and the enjoyment of those interested in the history of OR/MS.  It will continue to grow as new material becomes available. 

This INFORMS initiative by the History and Traditions Committee is described in an article on page 18 of the April 2015 issue of OR/MS Today

What's new on this website:

Biographical profile pages are available for 238 historical individuals, including links to the historic institutions, methodologies and application areas with which they are associated; and citations and links to available oral history interviews, memoirs and archival material.  All of the pages include brief biographies, some of which are still evolving.   

INFORMS oral history video interviews of George Dantzig, Alan Hoffman, Ronald Howard, Harold Kuhn, John Magee, Don Morrison, Stan Settles, Mike Todd, Philip Wolfe, George Nemhauser, Ed Cushen, Salah Elmaghraby, Don Gaver, Fred Hillier, Bill Pierskalla, Sheldon Ross and Stan Settles are now included in their profiles, linked from the Oral Histories menu item. More interview videos will be posted in the coming months. 

The first chapter of a history of marketing science has been added to the marketing science and marketing strategy pages.

A link to a Chronology of Game Theory has been added to the game theory page. 

Additional links have been added to the biographical profile page of the late Herbert Scarf.