The mathematical programming society

The roots of mathematical programming can be found in the applied mathematics of the nineteenth century, but its emergence as a discipline in its own right awaited the great advances of the nineteen forties and fifties in the application of mathematical methods to important problems of business, industry, and technology. In the nineteen-sixties it became clear that there was a true international community of researchers and practitioners of mathematical programming. In 1970 a Founding Committee (A. Orden, chairman; J. Abadie, M.L Balinski, A. W. Tucker, P. Wolfe, and G. Zoutendijk), proceeded to form a Society from this community, with the aims of ensuring the continuity of the International Symposia on Mathematical Programming (reviewed below), and establishing a journal to serve the community's interests. In 1970 the Committee selected an Editor-in-Chief and a publisher for the journal Mathematical Programming. In 1971 it set up a Secretariat for the Society, and in early 1972 enrolled 366 Charter Members, who adopted a Constitution and in 1973 elected the first officers. The Society became a 'Kindred Society' of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies in 1975. In 1981 the Society was incorporated in the United States (state of Delaware) as a non-profit tax-exempt scientific organization.