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Dantzig (George B.) Papers
SC0826
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Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: George B. Dantzig papers
Identifier/Call Number: SC0826
Physical Description:
96 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1934-2004
Physical Location: Special Collections and University
Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 48 hours in advance. For more
information on paging collections, see the department's website:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html.
Language of Material:
English .
The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in
original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
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 his 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 of 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 born in Shavli Lithuania, a Jew living in the
Pale of Russia. He received his Ph.D. at Indiana University, taught at various universities
including Johns Hopkins before he moving to the University of Md., where he transformed the
mathematics department from that of an agriculture school to a research math department. He
was chairman of the department for some time. His field of interest was geometry. He was a
descendent of Rabbi Abraham Danzig of Vilna, known as the Chaye Odom. His mother, Anja
Ourisson (nee Uryson) Dantzig was born in Lodz, Poland, attended the Sorbonne, where she
also studied mathematics. In the US, she earned bachelors and masters degrees in French
literature, but translated Slavic languages at the Library of Congress, where she was
assistant head of the division. She was related to the Russian mathematician Pavel Uryson.
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.
Early in the 1920s the Dantzig family moved from Baltimore to Washington. His mother became
assistant chief Slavic translator at the Library of Congress, and his father became chairman
of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park, George
attended Powell Junior High School and Central High School; one of his friends there was
Abraham Seidenberg, who was a professor of Mathematics at UC Berkeley. By the time he
reached high school he was already fascinated by geometry, and this interest was further
nurtured by his father, challenging him with complicated problems, particularly in
projective geometry.
George Dantzig earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of
Maryland in 1936, and his master's degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan in
1938. After a two-year period at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, he enrolled in the doctoral
program in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied
statistics under Jerzy Neyman.
With the outbreak of World War II, George took a leave of absence from the doctoral program
at Berkeley to join the U.S. Air Force Office of Statistical Control. In 1946, he returned
to Berkeley to complete the requirements of his program and received his Ph.D. that year.
Although he had a faculty offer from Berkeley, he returned to the Air Force as mathematical
advisor to the comptroller.
In 1952 Dantzig joined the mathematics division of the RAND Corporation. By 1960 he became
a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he founded and
directed the Operations Research Center. In 1966 he joined the Stanford faculty as Professor
of Operations Research and of Computer Science. A year later, the Program in Operations
Research became a full-fledged department. In 1973 he founded the Systems Optimization
Laboratory (SOL) there. On a sabbatical leave that year, he headed the Methodology Group at
the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria.
Later he became the C. A. Criley Professor of Transportation Sciences at Stanford, and kept
going, well beyond his mandatory retirement in 1985.
He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering,
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. George was the recipient of many honors,
including the first John von Neumann Theory Prize in 1974, the National Medal of Science in
1975, an honorary doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1976. The
Mathematical Programming Society honored Dantzig by creating the George B. Dantzig Prize,
bestowed every three years since 1982 on one or two people who have made a significant
impact in the field of mathematical programming.
Dantzig died on May 13, 2005, in his home in Stanford, California, of complications from
diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He was 90 years old.
[identification of item], George B. Dantzig Papers (SC0826). Dept. of Special Collections
and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Related George B. Dantzig papers donated to the University of Maryland
(https://www.lib.umd.edu/) by Jessica Klass.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Higher).
Mathematicians -- United States.
Computer science -- Study and teaching
Computer science -- Research
Systems programming (Computer science)