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Kantorovich's background was entirely in mathematics but he showed a considerable feel for the underlying economics to which he applied the mathematical techniques. He was one of the first to use linear programming as a tool in economics and this appeared in a publication "Mathematical methods of organising and planning production" which he published in 1939. This document contains the firsts mathematical formulations of production problems of optimal planning, the effective methods for solving them and its economic analysis. He introduced many new concepts into the study of mathematical programming such as giving necessary and sufficient optimality conditions on the base of supporting hyperplanes at the solution point in the production space, the concept of primal-dual methods, the interpretation in economics of multipliers, and the column-generation method used in linear programming. One of his most fundamental works on economics was "The best use of economic resources" which he wrote in 1942 but was not published until 1959. In this work Kantorovich applies optimization techniques to a wide range of problems in economics. He headed the department of mathematics and economics in the Siberian branch of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences from 1961 to 1971 and then served as head of the research laboratory at Moscow's Institute of National Economic Planning (1971-76). Kantorovich was elected to the prestigious Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1964) and was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1965. Ten years later, In 1975, Leonid V. Kantorovich and Tjalling C. Koopmans received the Nobel Prize for economics for his work on the theory of the optimum allocation of resources. As the starting point of their work in this field, both have studied the problem - fundamental to all economic activity - of how available productive resources can be used to the greatest advantage in the production of goods and services. This field embraces such questions as what goods should be produced, what methods of production should be used and how much of current production should be consumed, and how much reserved to create new resources for future production and consumption. His remarkable contributions to mathematics, economics and computers was published in over 300 papers and books. Major Works of Leonid V. Kantorovich
Resources on the author:The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St Andrews Scotland. Autobiography of Leonid V. Kantorovich at Nobel site. Press release of Nobel award (1975). The History of Economic Thought Website. St. Petersburg Mathematical Society. 1986 Obituary by Boston Globe. |
Dr Leonid Vital'evich Kantorovich was born in January 19, 1912 in St
Petersburg, Russia and died in April 7, 1986 in USSR. He studied mathematics
at Leningrad State University, receiving his doctorate in mathematics
in 1930 at the age of eighteen. From 1934 to 1960 he was a professor of
mathematics at Leningrad University. He held the chair of mathematics and
economics in the Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1961-1971),
then directed research at Moscow's Institute of National Economic Planning (1971-76). 
