Leonid Kantorovich
Leonid Kantorovich | |
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![]() Leonid Kantorovich in 1975 | |
Born | |
Died | 7 April 1986 | (aged 74)
Nationality | Soviet |
Alma mater | Leningrad State University |
Known for | Linear programming Kantorovich theorem normed vector lattice (Kantorovich space) Kantorovich metric Kantorovich inequality approximation theory iterative methods functional analysis numerical analysis scientific computing |
Awards | Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (1975) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich (Russian: Леони́д Вита́льевич Канторо́вич) (19 January 1912, Saint Petersburg – 7 April 1986, Moscow) was a Soviet mathematician and economist, known for his theory and development of techniques for the optimal allocation of resources. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1975 and the only winner of this prize from the USSR.
Kantorovich worked for the Soviet government. He was given the task of optimizing production in a plywood industry. He came up (1939) with the mathematical technique now known as linear programming, some years before it was reinvented and much advanced by George Dantzig. He authored several books including The Mathematical Method of Production Planning and Organization and The Best Uses of Economic Resources. For his work, Kantorovich was awarded Stalin Prize (1949).
After 1939, he becomes the professor of Military engineering-technical university (Russian: Военный инженерно-технический университет). During the Siege of Leningrad, Kantorovich was the professor of VITU of Navy and in charge of safety on the Road of Life. He calculated the optimal distance between cars on ice, depending on thickness of ice and temperature of the air. In December 1941 and January 1942, Kantorovich personally walked between cars driving on the ice of Lake Ladoga, on the Road of Life, to ensure the cars did not sink. However, many cars with food for survivors of the siege were destroyed by the German air-bombings.
For his feat and courage Kantorovich was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, and was decorated with the medal For Defense of Leningrad.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Medal_Defense_of_Leningrad.jpg/110px-Medal_Defense_of_Leningrad.jpg)
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which he shared with Tjalling Koopmans, was given "for their contributions to the theory of optimal allocation of resources."
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Portrait by Petrov-Vodkin. 1938.
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1976
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Original CIA file on Kantorovich, seized from the former US Embassy in Tehran.
Mathematics
In mathematical analysis, Kantorovich had important results in functional analysis, approximation theory, and operator theory.
In particular, Kantorovich formulated fundamental results in the theory of normed vector lattices, which are called "K-spaces" in his honor.
Kantorovich showed that functional analysis could be used in the analysis of iterative methods, obtaining the Kantorovich inequalities on the convergence rate of the gradient method and of Newton's method.
Kantorovich considered infinite-dimensional optimization problems, such as the Kantorovich-Monge problem in transportation theory. His analysis proposed the Kantorovich metric, which is used in probability theory, in the theory of the weak convergence of probability measures.
See also
References
- V. Makarov (1987). "Kantorovich, Leonid Vitaliyevich" The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 3, pp. 14–15.
- L.V. Kantorovich (1939). "Mathematical Methods of Organizing and Planning Production" Management Science, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Jul., 1960), pp. 366–422.
- Klaus Hagendorf (2008). Spreadsheet presenting all examples of Kantorovich, 1939 with the OpenOffice.org Calc Solver as well as the lp_solver.
Nobel prize lecture
- Kantorovich, Leonid, "Mathematics in Economics: Achievements, Difficulties, Perspectives", Nobel Prize lecture, December 11, 1975
- "Autobiography: Leonid Kantorovich", Nobel Prize website
Further reading
- Dantzig, George, Linear programming and extensions. Princeton University Press and the RAND Corporation, 1963. Cf. p.22 for the work of Kantorovich.
- Isbell, J.R.; Marlow, W.H., "On an Industrial Programming Problem of Kantorovich", Management Science, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Oct., 1961), pp. 13–17
- Koopmans, Tjalling C., "Concepts of optimality and their uses", Nobel Memorial Lecture, December 11, 1975
- Kutateladze, S.S., "The World Line of Kantorovich", Notices of the ISMS, International Society for Mathematical Sciences, Osaka, Japan, January 2007
- Kutateladze, S.S., "Kantorovich's Phenomenon", Siberian Math. J. (Сибирский мат. журн.), 2007, V. 48, No. 1, 3–4, November 29, 2006.
- Kutateladze, S.S., "Mathematics and Economics of Kantorovich"
- Leifman, Lev J., ed. (1990). Functional analysis, optimization, and mathematical economics: A collection of papers dedicated to the memory of Leonid Vitalʹevich Kantorovich. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. pp. xvi+341. ISBN 0-19-505729-5. MR1082562.
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(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)- Makarov, V. L. [Valeriĭ Leonidovich]; Sobolev, S. L. "Academician L. V. Kantorovich (19 January 1912 to 7 April 1986)". pp. 1–7. MR1082564.
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(help) - Kantorovich, L. V. "My journey in science (supposed report to the Moscow Mathematical Society)" [expanding Russian Math. Surveys 42 (1987), no. 2, pp. 233–270]. pp. 8–45. MR898626.
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- Makarov, V. L. [Valeriĭ Leonidovich]; Sobolev, S. L. "Academician L. V. Kantorovich (19 January 1912 to 7 April 1986)". pp. 1–7. MR1082564.
- Template:Cite article
- Template:Ru icon Vershik, Anatoly, et al., "Leonid V. Kantorovich (1912-1986)", Sobolev Institute of Mathematics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Also published in the Siberian Mathematical Journal, Volume 43 (2002), No. 1, pp. 3–8
- Template:Ru icon Vershik, Anatoly, "On Leonid Kantorovich and linear programming"
External links
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Leonid Kantorovich", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews (With additional photos.)
- Leonid Kantorovich at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Information about: Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich - IDEAS/RePEc
- Nobel laureates in Economics
- Functional analysts
- Approximation theorists
- Operator theorists
- Operations researchers
- Mathematical economists
- Russian economists
- People from Saint Petersburg
- Soviet mathematicians
- Russian mathematicians
- Russian Nobel laureates
- Saint Petersburg State University alumni
- Jewish scientists
- Russian Jews
- 1912 births
- 1986 deaths
- Variational analysts