George Bernard Dantzig (; November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was an American mathematical scientist who made contributions to industrial engineering, 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 Spława-Neyman.
At his death, Dantzig was professor emeritus of Transportation Sciences and Professor of Operations Research and of Computer Science at Stanford University.
Early life
Born in Portland, Oregon, George Bernard Dantzig was named after George Bernard Shaw, the Irish writer. He was born to Jewish parents; his father, Tobias Dantzig, was a mathematician and linguist, and his mother, Anja Dantzig (née Ourisson), was a Russian-born linguist of French-Lithuanian origin. Dantzig's parents met during their study at the University of Paris, where Tobias studied mathematics under Henri...