GREAT SCIENTISTS AND

ENGINEERSKatherine Stammer

Intro to Systems Science and EngineeringNovember 2, 2009

OVERVIEWJohn von NeumannEugene WignerGeorge DantzigRichard BellmanRudolf Kalman

JOHN VON NEUMANN (1903-

1957)Made remarkable contributions to game theory, computer science, mathematical

logic, and quantum mechanics

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION Born in Budapest, Hungary Called a child prodigy for

his abilities in mathematics and memorization

Went to Fasori Evangélikus Gimnázium for secondary school at the same time Eugene Wigner was there

Earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from ETH Zurich in Switzerland simultaneously with his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Pázmány Péter University in Budapest

WORK University of Berlin—1926

Made contributions to logic and set theory Researched game theory

Princeton—1929 Spent one term in Princeton and one term in Germany for four years In 1933, along with Albert Einstein, became one of the first four

faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study During World War II worked in weapons development at Los Alamos Directed the Electronic Computer Project MANIAC (mathematical analyzer, numerical integrator and computer),

the fastest computer of its kind, run on thousands of vacuum tubes MANIAC enabled calculations necessary for the hydrogen bomb

model Published the classic Theory of Games and Economic Behavior with

Oskar Morgenstern in 1944 asserting that “the typical problems of economic behavior become strictly identical with the mathematical notions of suitable games of strategy''

Served as a mathematics professor until his death in 1957 due to cancer

HONORS Bocher Prize, the American

Mathematical Society's highest award, in 1937

Member of the National Academy of Sciences

President of the American Mathematical Society from 1951-1953

Commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1955

Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1956 Albert Einstein Commemorative Award

in 1956 Enrico Fermi Award for his contributions

to the design and construction of computing machines used in nuclear research and development in 1956

Has a crater on the moon named after him

EUGENE WIGNER

(1902-1995)Developed the theory of

symmetries and introduced group theory into quantum mechanics

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION Born in Budapest, Hungary At age 11 became sick and was

sent to the Austrian Mountains for six weeks

It was here that he became very interested in Mathematics

Went to Fasori Evangélikus Gimnázium for secondary school at the same time John Von Neumann was there

Received PhD from the University of Berlin in 1925

WORK University of Berlin and University of Gottingen—1925

Lecturer Laid the foundation for the theory of symmetries in quantum

mechanics Wigner D-Matrix With Hermann Weyl introduced group theory into quantum

mechanics Princeton—1930

Immigrated to the United States shortly before the Nazis came to power in Germany

Discovered that the nuclear force that binds protons and neutrons is short-range and independent of electric charge

Wrote “Group Theory and Its Application to the Quantum Mechanics of Atomic Spectra,” a classic text

University of Wisconsin, Madison—1936 Developed the theory of neutron absorption—used in nuclear

reactors Princeton—1938

Mathematics professor

LATER WORK University of Chicago: Manhattan Project—

1939 Wigner assisted in persuading Albert

Einstein to write the historic letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that set in motion the U.S. atomic-bomb project

Helped Enrico Fermi construct the first atomic pile

Clinton Laboratories (now Oak Ridge National Laboratory)—1941 Director of Research and Development

Princeton—1943-1971 retirement conducted research on quantum

mechanics, the theory of the rates of chemical reactions, and nuclear structure

Wrote “Symmetries and Reflections,” highly regarded in its field

HONORS U. S. Medal for Merit in 1946 Enrico Fermi Prize in 1958 Atoms for Peace Award in 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963

"for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles"

National Medal of Science in 1969 Served as vice- president and

president of the American Physical Society

Board of directors of the American Nuclear Society

GEORGE DANTZIG (1914-

2005)“The father of linear programming”

and the inventor of the simplex method

EDUCATION Earned Bachelors degrees in

Mathematics and Physics from the University of Maryland in 1936

Received Masters Degree in Mathematics from the University of Michigan

Enrolled in Doctoral Program at the University of California, Berkeley Solved two formerly unproved

statistical theorems thinking they were homework problems

Took a leave of absence to work in the U.S. Air Force Office of Statistical Control during World War II

Received PhD in 1946

WORK Mathematics Advisor for the Air Force Controller’s

Office—1946 Formulated the linear programming problem as a

mathematical model for planning deployment training and supply activities

Devised the simplex method to find the solution RAND Corporation Mathematics Division—1952

Extended applications of linear programming Wrote much of the material for his book Linear

Programming and Extensions University of California, Berkeley—1960

Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering Founded the Operations Research Center

Stanford—1966 Professor of Operations Research and Computer Science Mentored about 41 doctorate students

LATER WORK Systems Optimization Laboratory—1973

Founded by Dantzig Goal: “to develop computational methods and associated

computer routines for numerical analysis and optimization of large-scale systems”

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria—1973 headed the Methodology Group Published Compact City, a book about a city shaped like a

cylinder with multiply stories Started PILOT, Planning Investment Levels Over Time, a project

that used energy and economic modeling Retired from professorship—1985

Continued to research linear programming under uncertainty Completed and published two volumes of a projected four-

volume work on linear programming and extensions with Mukund N. Thapa

HONORS National Medal of

Science John von Neumann

Theory Prize Elected to the National

Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Eight honorary degrees

RICHARD BELLMAN (1920-

1984)Made significant contributions to

decision processes and control system theory, particularly the creation and

application of dynamic programmingKey work: the Bellman Equation

EDUCATION Earned B.A. in Mathematics

from Brooklyn College in 1941 Received M.A. in Mathematics

from University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1943

Los Alamos Theoretical Physics Group during World War II

Received his PhD from Princeton in Theoretical Physics in a record time of 3 months

WORK Princeton Mathematics Department—1946 RAND Corporation—1952

Invented dynamic programming, a major breakthrough in the theory of multistage decision processes

Made important advances in invariant imbedding and quasi-linearization

University of Southern California Professor of Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, and Medicine—1965 research activity focused on the application of

mathematics to medicine and biological sciences founded the journal "Mathematical Biosciences“ published 619 papers and 39 books

HONORS First Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied

Mathematics, awarded in 1970 jointly by the American Mathematical Society and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

First Dickson Prize, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1970

John von Neumann Theory Award, awarded in 1976 jointly by the Institute of Management Sciences and the Operations Research Society of America

IEEE Medal of Honor in 1979 "For contributions to decision processes and control system theory, particularly the creation and application of dynamic programming."

RUDOLF KALMAN (1930-)

Co-invented the Kalman filter, a mathematical formulation that

removes "noise" from series of data

EDUCATION Earned a Bachelor’s

degree in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1953

Received a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1954

Received ScD from Columbia University in 1957

WORK IBM Research Laboratory—1957

made important contributions to the design of linear sampled-data control systems using quadratic performance criteria

used Lyapunov theory for the analysis and design of control systems Research Institute for Advanced Study (RIAS)—1958

Research mathematician, promoted to Associate Director of Research Unified the theory and design of linear systems with respect to quadratic

criteria Clarified the interrelations between Pontryagin's maximum principle and

the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation Developed the Kalman filter—important for control systems, used by NASA

Stanford University—1964 Departments of Electrical Engineering, Mechanics, and Operations

Research Realization theory and algebraic system theory

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida—1971-1992 Director of the Center for Mathematical System Theory Chair of Mathematical System Theory at the Swiss Federal Institute of

Technology

HONORS Outstanding Young Scientist of the Year

by the Maryland Academy of Sciences in 1962

IEEE Medal of Honor in 1974 "For pioneering modern methods in system theory, including concepts of controllability, observability, filtering, and algebraic structures."

IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984 Inamori foundation's Kyoto Prize in

High Technology in 1985 The American Mathematical Society’s

Steele Prize in 1987 Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage

Award in 1997 National Academy of Engineering's

Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2008

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