Great Scientists and Engineers
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Transcript of Great Scientists and Engineers
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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