George B. Dantzig

George Bernard Dantzig
Gerald R. Ford awarded George B. Dantzig at the National Medal of Science Awards Ceremony, 1976
Born	(1914-11-08)November 8, 1914 Portland, Oregon
Died	May 13, 2005(2005-05-13) (aged 90) Stanford, California
Citizenship	American
Fields	Mathematics Operations research Computer science Economics Statistics
Institutions	U.S. Air Force Office of Statistical Control RAND Corporation University of California, Berkeley Stanford University
Alma mater	Bachelor's degrees - University of Maryland Master's degree - University of Michigan Doctor of Philosophy - University of California, Berkeley
Doctoral advisor	Jerzy Neyman
Doctoral students	Robert Fourer Alfredo Noel Iusem Ellis L. Johnson Thomas Magnanti Roger J-B Wets Yinyu Ye
Known for	Linear programming Simplex algorithm Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition principle Generalized linear programming Generalized upper bounding Max-flow min-cut theorem of networks Quadratic programming Complementary pivot algorithms Linear complementarity problem
Influences	Wassily Leontief John von Neumann Marshal K. Wood
Influenced	Kenneth J. Arrow Robert Dorfman Leonid Hurwicz Tjalling C. Koopmans Thomas L. Saaty Paul Samuelson Philip Wolfe
Notable awards	John von Neumann Theory Prize (1974) National Medal of Science in Mathematical, Statistical, and Computational Sciences (1975) Harvey Prize (1985) Harold Pender Award (1995)

U.S. Air Force Office of Statistical Control
RAND Corporation

George Bernard Dantzig (November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was an American mathematical scientist who made important contributions to operations research, computer science, economics, and statistics.

Dantzig is known for his development of the simplex algorithm, an algorithm for solving linear programming problems, and for his other work with linear programming. In statistics, Dantzig solved two open problems in statistical theory, which he had mistaken for homework after arriving late to a lecture by Jerzy Neyman.

Dantzig was the Professor Emeritus of Transportation Sciences and Professor of Operations Research and of Computer Science at Stanford.

Born in Portland, Oregon, George Bernard Dantzig was named after George Bernard Shaw, the Irish writer. His father, Tobias Dantzig, was a Baltic German mathematician and linguist, and his mother, Anja Dantzig (née Ourisson), was a French linguist. Dantzig's parents met during their study at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where Tobias studied mathematics under Henri Poincaré, after whom Dantzig's brother was named. The Dantzigs immigrated to the United States, where they settled in Portland, Oregon.