Operations research with special reference to nonmilitary research

SEP 01, 1951

The following report was issued earlier this year by the Committee on Operations Research of the National Research Council. It is reproduced here in order to give the Committee’s views on operations research the widest possible audience among physicists.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3067338

Committee on Operations Research

Operations research (or, as the British say, Operational Research) is the name of an applied science, extensively developed during World War II in the British and American armed forces. Its subject matter is “operations”, in the usual military or management sense of the word.

References

1. Kittel, Charles. “The Nature and Development of Operations Research”, Science (Feb. 7, 1947), 105.
2. “Operational Research in War and Peace”, Advancement of Science (Jan., 1948), 4.
3. Goodeve, Sir Charles. “Operational Research”, Nature, No. 4089 (March 13, 1948).
4. Blackett, P. M. S. “Operational Research”, Advancement of Science (April, 1948), 5.
5. Horvath, W. J. “Operations Research—A Scientific Basis for Executive Decisions”, American Statistician (Oct., 1948), 2.
6. Crowther, J. G. and Whiddington, R. Science at War, London (H.M.S.O.), 1947.
7. Morse, P. M. and Kimball, G. E. Methods of Operations Research, Technology Press (MIT)—John Wiley & Sons. 1951.
8. Operational Research Quarterly. Operational Research Club; 25 Buckingham Gate, London, S.W.1.

More about the Authors

Committee on Operations Research. National Research Council.