Egon Balas

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Egon Balas
Born(1922-06-07)June 7, 1922
DiedMarch 18, 2019(2019-03-18) (aged 96)
Known forDisjunctive programming
AwardsJohn 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
FieldsApplied Mathematics
InstitutionsCarnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business

Egon Balas (June 7, 1922 – March 18, 2019)[1] was a Romanian applied mathematician. He was a professor of industrial administration and applied mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University. He was the Thomas Lord Professor of Operations Research at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. He was known for his fundamental work in developing integer and disjunctive programming.[2]

Life and education[change | change source]

He was born in Cluj in Transylvania to a Hungarian Jewish family. His birth name was actually Blatt, but it was changed to the Hungarian Balázs ("BAW-lass"). It was changed again to Romanian Balaș ("BAH-lash"). He was married to art historian Edith Balas, a survivor of Auschwitz, and they birthed two daughters.[3][4] He was imprisoned by the Communist authorities for several years after the war.[5]

He left Romania in 1966 and ventured onto the United States to begin his new career. He started his teaching career in 1967 at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He got a "Diploma Licentiate" in economics in 1949, and he got Ph.D.s in economics and mathematics at different universities and in different years.[6]


References[change | change source]

  1. "Remembering Egon Balas". Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. * Graham K. Rand: Egon Balas, Profiles in Operations Research (eds.: A.A. Asad, S.L. Gass), International Series in Operations Research and Management Science, 147, Springer, 2011.
  3. University, Carnegie Mellon. "Edith Balas - Center for the Arts in Society - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  4. (CMU), Carnegie Mellon University. "March 22: CMU's Edith Balas Pens Memoir Depicting Life as a Survivor and Scholar - Carnegie Mellon University - CMU". www.cmu.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  5. "Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh » Edith Balas". holocaustcenterpgh.org. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  6. E. Balas: Will to Freedom: A Perilous Journey through Fascism and Communism (Syracuse University Press, 2000)