History of Operation Research

Operations research is a scientific method of providing executive departments with a quantitative basis for decisions regarding the operations under their control.”

-- Morse & Kimbali --

What is Operations Research? 

The first formal activities of operations research (OR) were initiated in England during World War II when a team of British scientists set out to make a decision regarding the best utilization of war material. Following the end of the war, the ideas advanced in military operations were adapted to improve efficiency and productivity in the civilian sector. 

Operations research can also be treated as science in the sense that it describes, understands, and predicts the system's behaviour, especially the man-machine system. Thus, O.R. specialists are involved in three classical aspects of science, which are as follows:

1. Determining the system's behavior

2. Analyzing the behaviour of the system by developing appropriate models

3. Predict future behaviour using these models

History of Operations Research

Operation research is a relatively new discipline. Whereas 70 years ago it would have been possible to study mathematics, physics, or engineering (for example) at university, it would not have been possible to study Operation Research; indeed, the term O.R. did not exist then. It was only in the late 1930s that operational research began systematically, and it started in the UK. As such, it would be interesting to give a brief history of O.R.

It is generally accepted that the field originated in England during World War II. Some say that Charles Babbage is the Father of O.R. because his research into the cost of transportation and sorting of mail led to England’s University Penny Post in 1840. Modern Operations Research originated at the Bowdsey Research Station in U.Kthe . in 1937 to analyse and improve the working of the UK’s Early Warning Radar System. During the Second World War about 1000 men and women were engaged to work for the British Army. After World War II, military operational research in the U.K. became Operational Analysis (OA) within the U.K. Ministry of Defence with expanded techniques and graving awareness.

Who discovered operations research?

Sir Robert Watson-Watt, who, with A.P. Rowe, launched the first two operational studies of radar in 1937 and who claims to have given the discipline its name, visited the United States in 1942 and urged that operations research be introduced into the War and Navy departments.

Who used operations research the first time? 

The term Operations Research was first coined in 1940 by McClosky and Trefthen in a small town, Bowdsey, in the United Kingdom. This new science came into existence in the military context

Stages of Development of Operations Research The stages of development of O.R. are also known as phases and processes of O.R., which have six important steps. These six steps are arranged in the following order:

Step I: Observe the problem environment

Step II: Analyze and define the problem

Step III: Develop a model

Step IV: Select appropriate data input

Step V: Provide a solution and test its reasonableness

Step VI: Implement the solution