KANTOROVICH Leonid V.

January 19, 1912, Mr.. - April 7, 1986
Russian economist Leonid V. Kantorovich was born in 1912. in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian Revolution began when he was five years old, during the Civil War his family fled to the year in Belarus. In 1922, Mr.. his father died, Vitaly Kantorovich, leaving his son to mother's education, nee Pauline Sachs.
To. showed an interest in science long before it in 1926, Mr.. at the age of fourteen he entered the University of Leningrad. Here, he examines not only the natural discipline, and political economy, modern history, mathematics. His penchant for mathematics is crucial in the work on the theory of series, which he presented at the First All-Union Congress of Mathematicians in 1930. Finished in the same year his studies, he remained in Leningrad University in teaching and continued his studies at the Department of Mathematics. By 1934, Mr.. He became a professor, and a year later, when it was re-established academic degrees, a PhD.
In 30-ies. In a period of intense economic and industrial development of the Soviet Union, to. been at the forefront of mathematical research and sought to apply their theoretical development in the practice of growing Soviet economy. Such an opportunity in 1938 when he was appointed as consultant to the laboratory plywood factory. Before him was tasked to develop a method of allocating resources, . which could maximize the productivity of equipment, . and K., . formulate the problem using mathematical terms, . made to maximize the linear function, . exposed to a large number of constraints,
. Without a net economic education, . he nevertheless knew, . that the maximization with numerous restrictions - this is one of the major economic problems and that the method, . facilitates planning for plywood mills, . can be used in many other industries, . whether the definition of optimal use of the crop area or the most efficient distribution of traffic movements.,
. Method K., designed to address the problems associated with the production of plywood, and known today as the method of linear programming, has found wide application in the economic world
. In this paper, 'Mathematical methods of organizing and planning of production', published in 1939, K. showed that all the economic problems of distribution may be regarded as a maximization problem with multiple limiters, therefore, can be solved using linear programming.
. In the case of the manufacture of plywood, he introduced the variable to be maximization of the sum of value of products produced by all cars
. Terminators were represented by the equations, . that set the ratio between the amount spent by each of the factors of production (eg, . Wood, . Electricity, . working time) and the number of products, . output of each of the machines, . where the value of any of the costs should not exceed the amount available to the.,
. Then K
. introduced new variables (allowing animators) as the coefficients for each of the factors of production in the boundary equations and showed, . that the values of a variable factor spent, . and variable output can be easily identified, . we know the values of multipliers,
. He then presented an economic interpretation of these multipliers, . showing, . they, . essentially, . represent the marginal cost (or 'implicit prices') constraints, hence, . they are similar to high costs of each of the factors of production in the mode of fully competitive market.,
. And although since developed more sophisticated computer techniques for determining the values of multipliers (K
. used the method of successive approximation), his original understanding of the economic and mathematical meaning of the multipliers laid the foundation for all subsequent work in this field in the Soviet Union. Subsequently, a similar methodology has been independently developed in the West Tjalling W. Koopmans and other economists.
Even in the difficult years of the Second World War, when K. served as a professor at the Naval Engineering Academy in besieged Leningrad, he managed to create a significant study 'on the movement of the masses' (1942). In this work he has used linear programming to plan the optimal placement of consumer and industrial factors.
Continuing to work at Leningrad University, K. led the department while the approximate methods in the Institute of Mathematics of the USSR in Leningrad. In the next few years, he promoted the development of new mathematical methods of planning for the Soviet economy. In 1951, Mr.. He (together with the mathematician, an expert in the field of geometry VA. Zalgaller) has published a book describing their work on the use of linear programming to improve the efficiency of transport construction in Leningrad. Eight years later he published the most, apparently, his famous work 'Economic calculation best use of resources'. In it he made a far-reaching conclusions on the ideal organization of a socialist economy to achieve high efficiency in the use of resources. In particular, he recommended greater use of implicit prices in the allocation of resources for the Union, and even the interest rate for the expression of the hidden cost of time in planning investments.
. While some Soviet scientists are cautious attitude to the new planning methods, techniques to gradually
. taken of the Soviet economy. In 1949, Mr.. He was awarded the Stalin Prize for his work in mathematics, in 1958. elected a corresponding member of Academy of Sciences. Six years later he became an academician. In 1960, he moved to Novosibirsk, where he is the most advanced in the USSR, computer center, he became the head of the department of economic-mathematical methods in the Siberian Branch of USSR Academy of Sciences. Together with his colleagues, economists, mathematicians, VV. Novozhilov, and VS. Nemchinov, K. became a laureate of the Lenin Prize in 1965, and in 1967. was awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1971, Mr.. he became head of laboratory at the Institute of National Economic Management in Moscow.
Memory Nobel Prize 1975. Economics was awarded jointly to. and Tjalling W. Koopmans 'for his contribution to the theory of optimum allocation of resources'. In his speech at the presentation ceremony, the representative of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Ragnar Benttsel noted the clear evidence, . as evidenced by the work of two winners, . - 'The main economic problems can be studied in purely scientific terms, . regardless of the political organization of society, . in which they investigated ',
. Works Koopmans and K. on linear programming is closely in contact, and an American scientist prepared in 1939. the first publication of the book of the Soviet scientist in the English language. In his Nobel lecture "Mathematics in economics: achievements, challenges and prospects' K. talked about the 'problems and experiences of planned economy, especially the Soviet economy. "
In the next year to. became director of the Institute for System Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences. Through internal research, he at the same time supported and trained a whole generation of Soviet economists.
In 1938. K. married Natalia Ilyina, a doctor by profession. Their children - a son and daughter - were economists. K. died on 7 April 1986. at age 74.
In addition to the Nobel Prize and awards received in the USSR,. were awarded honorary degrees from universities of Glasgow, Grenoble, Nice, Helsinki and Paris, he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.