Egon Balas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Egon Balas
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| Born | June 7, 1922 |
| Died | March 18, 2019 (aged 96) |
| Known for | Disjunctive programming |
| Awards | John von Neumann Theory Prize (1995), EURO Gold Medal (2001), Hungarian Academy of Science (external member, 2004), Honorary Doctorate in Mathematics (University of Waterloo, 2005) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Applied Mathematics |
| Institutions | Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Fortet |
Egon Balas was a very smart mathematician. He was born in Cluj, Romania, on June 7, 1922, and passed away on March 18, 2019. He became a professor of industrial administration and applied mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States. Egon Balas was known for his important work in a field called applied mathematics. He helped create new ways to solve complex problems using math, especially in areas like "integer programming" and "disjunctive programming."
His Life and Studies
Egon Balas was born in Cluj, Romania, into a Hungarian Jewish family. His original family name was Blatt, but it was changed a couple of times. He was married to Edith Balas, who was an art historian. They had two daughters together.
After World War II, Egon Balas was held by the government for several years. In 1966, he left Romania. He then moved to the United States and started working at Carnegie Mellon University in 1967.
Egon Balas studied a lot! He earned a degree in economics from Bolyai University in 1949. Later, he got two more advanced degrees, called Ph.D.s. One was in economics from the University of Brussels in 1967. The other was in mathematics from the University of Paris in 1968. His math Ph.D. project was about solving tricky math problems, and his advisor was Robert Fortet.
Awards and Recognition
Egon Balas received many important awards for his amazing work in mathematics. Here are some of them:
- National Academy of Engineering, 2006
- IFORS Hall of Fame, 2006
- Honorary Doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, 2005
- External member of the Hungarian Academy of Science, 2004
- INFORMS Fellow, 2002
- Honorary Doctorate in Mathematics from Miguel Hernandez University, Spain, 2002
- EURO Gold Medal, 2001
- John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS, 1995
- Senior U.S. Scientist Award of the von Humboldt Foundation, 1980–1981
