A History of OR and Computing

I would stress that this is a history and not the history of computing and OR. Hopefully I may stimulate others to complete a more comprehensive account. This account is based on my attendance at a postgraduate Diploma Course in Electronic Computation at Leeds University in 1962/3, my experiences as a member of the OR Executive of British Coal Corporation since 1963, and some research into the early uses of computers for linear programming and simulationarguably the OR techniques that have benefited most from computers. It is also largely a practitioner's account, not only because of my own experience, but coincidentally because most material I have been able to research has been written by practitioners. Finally, it is largely how computers have affected OR, and not vice versa. I have divided my account into five periods:

[1]  Anthony Wren,et al.  Managing with Computers in the 1980's. Joint ORS/YHORG Conference Harrogate-7/8th March, 1978. Part II: Introduction , 1979 .

[2]  George B Dantzig.  CONCEPTS, ORIGINS, AND USE OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING , 1957 .

[3]  G. S. Galer,et al.  The Use of Computers for Economic Planning in the Petroleum Chemical Industry , 1959, Comput. J..

[4]  E. M. L. Beale.  Operational Research and Computers: A Personal View , 1980 .

[5]  A. T. Clementson.  Fitting a Gallon into a Pint Pot! Or Creating Overlaid Programs under CP/M , 1981 .

[6]  R. D. Hurrion.  An Investigation of Visual Interactive Simulation Methods Using the Job-Shop Scheduling Problem , 1978 .

[7]  William Orchard-Hays.  History of Mathematical Programming Systems , 1984, Annals of the History of Computing.

[8]  K. Knowles,et al.  A Heuristic Tree-search Method of Selecting Face Schedules at a Colliery , 1967 .

[9]  A. Wren,et al.  The Optimum Arrangement of Towers in an Electric Power Transmission Line , 1967, Comput. J..

[10]  Christopher Evans.  The Making of the Micro , 1981 .

[11]  W. Lampkin,et al.  A Stock Control Policy for Important Spares in a Two Level Stores System , 1961 .

[12]  G. G. Stephenson.  A Hierarchy of Models for Planning in a Division of I.C.I. , 1970 .

[13]  R. A. Acton.  The First Twenty Years Operational Research , 1966 .

[14]  D. G. Elson.  An Analogue Equipment for Use in Production Planning , 1968 .

[15]  Maurice V. Wilkes.  The Second Decade of Computer Development , 1958, Comput. J..

[16]  T Bowen,et al.  Expert Systems for Performance Review , 1987, The Journal of the Operational Research Society.

[17]  A. McKay.  Linear Programming on Microcomputers , 1983 .

[18]  John E. Beasley,et al.  Supercomputers and OR , 1987 .

[19]  N. R. Tobin.  Timesharing, Interactive Models and Operational Research* , 1976 .

[20]  J. C. Ranyard.  Introducing the Microcomputer into the O.R. Department , 1981 .

[21]  Brian W. Hollocks.  Simulation and the Micro , 1983 .

[22]  George A. Tingley.  Can MS/OR Sell Itself Well Enough? , 1986 .