Alexander Rinnooy Kan

Alexander Hendrik George Rinnooy Kan (born 5 October 1949) is a Dutch mathematician and business leader. As of September 2012 he is University Professor of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Amsterdam. The Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant named him the most influential person in the Netherlands in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Since 9 June 2015, he has been a member of the Senate on behalf of Democrats 66 (D66).

Rinnooy Kan grew up in The Hague. He graduated in mathematics at Leiden University in 1972. In the same year, he obtained his B.Sc. degree in econometrics from the University of Amsterdam. In 1972–73, he worked as a mathematician at Spectrum Encyclopedia. From 1973 until 1977, he was a scientific employee in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Delft University of Technology (then called the Delft Technical College). In 1976, he obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Amsterdam; he was advised by Gijsbert de Leve.

In 1977, he went to the Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he became a full professor in Operations Research in 1980 at the age of 30. In 1983, he was appointed head of the Econometric Institute, and in 1986 rector magnificus of the university. In the meantime, he was visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley and MIT, amongst others.

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