Three decades in the history of Hungarian operations research: 1970-2000

Abstract

The history of operations research continues in this paper. The description of the period between 1970 and 2000 is based on various sources. After outlining the international background, the history of the main professional organizations, and the functioning of the state management is presented. One of the conclusions is that important contributions were achieved in both the theory and applications of operations research even before the regime change of 1989-1990. The emergence of the new organizational structure, marked by the foundation of independent professional societies (e.g. the Hungarian Operations Research Society, the Society of Economic Modelling) further strengthened this development. A large part of the paper introduces the main actors with their short biographies and most characteristic works. More than 75 researchers appear in these descriptions. Topics of the professional conferences, the state of operations research education and several related topics are also covered in the chapters of the article.