Arnold Kaufmann (18 August 1911 – 15 June 1994) was a French engineer, professor of Applied Mechanics and Operations Research at the

Mines ParisTech Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...

in Paris, at the

Grenoble Institute of Technology The Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP) (''Institut polytechnique de Grenoble'', ''Groupe Grenoble INP'' and before INPG) is a French technological university system consisting of eight engineering and management schools. Grenoble INP ...

and the

Université catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

, and scientific advisor at

Groupe Bull Bull SAS (also known as Groupe Bull, Bull Information Systems, or simply Bull) is a French computer company headquartered in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, in the western suburbs of Paris. The company has also been known at various times as Bull General El ...

. He is known for writing the first book on

fuzzy sets In mathematics, fuzzy sets (a.k.a. uncertain sets) are sets whose elements have degrees of membership. Fuzzy sets were introduced independently by Lotfi A. Zadeh in 1965 as an extension of the classical notion of set. At the same time, defined a ...

,Rudolf Seising, Luis Argüelles Méndez (2015), ''Accuracy and Fuzziness.'' p. 29 and as cofounder of the International Project Management Association.

Klaus Pannenbaecker Klaus G. Pannenbaecker (born 1935) is a German engineer, managing director, and teacher in project management. He is known as president of the International Project Management Association from 1994 to 1996.Paul C. Dinsmore (1999), ''Winning in Busin ...

and Sebastian Dworatschek (2005). "History of IPMA International Project Management Association (1965- 2005) and it’s National Associations." at ipma.world. Accessed 26-06-2017.Patrick Weaver,
The origins of Modern Project Management
'' 2007. (online at ''mosaicprojects.com.au.'' Accessed 25-06-2017)

Life and work

Kaufmann had an illustrious career. Zadeh, Lotfi A. "In memoriam of Professor Arnold Kaufmann (1911–1994)." ''Fuzzy Sets and Systems'' 84.2 (1996): 119-120. He served as pilot during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and in his later life became Professor of Applied Mechanics and Operations Research at the Ecole Supérieure des Mines de Paris; Polytechnic University at Grenoble; and the University of Louvain in Belgium. In 1964–65 Kaufmann participated in meetings with

Roland Gutsch Roland W. Gutsch (3 November 1925 - 20 February 2009) was a German engineer at the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier, known as co-founder and President of the International Project Management Association,IPMA, ''IPMA, 50 years - Building Bridges ...

from Germany,

Pierre Koch Pierre Koch (18 September 1895 – 14 February 1978) Willi H. Hager. ''Hydraulicians in Europe 1800-2000 - Volume 2.'' p. 973. p. 973 was a French civil engineer, director of Water and Sanitation in Paris, and Professor of Hydrology at the École ...

and

Yves Eugene Yves Eugene was a French engineer and manager at the French oil company Société nationale des pétroles d’Aquitaine (SNPA), later Elf Aquitaine. He is known as co-founder of the International Project Management Association.Klaus Pannenbaecker an ...

from France, and

Dick Vullinghs H. M. "Dick" Vullinghs (born ca. 1936 in 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch aerospace engineer, who worked at Fokker. He is known as co-founder of the International Project Management Association.Klaus Pannenbaecker and Sebastian Dworatschek (2005).Histor ...

from the Netherlands, which lead to the founding of the International Project Management Association. In the discussion about how to name the new association, Kaufmann suggested the term INTERNET for INTERnational NETwork. After the Vienna congress of the association in 1967, INTERNET became the official association name of the conference held every second year. In a memoriam of Professor Arnold Kaufmann

Lotfi A. Zadeh Lotfi Aliasker Zadeh (; az, Lütfi Rəhim oğlu Ələsgərzadə; fa, لطفی علی‌عسکرزاده; 4 February 1921 – 6 September 2017) was a mathematician, computer scientist, electrical engineer, artificial intelligence researcher, an ...

(1996) wrote: :"In writing about Professor Kaufmann, I find it hard to find adequate words to describe my admiration and affection for a man who stood so tall in all respects. A truly outstanding intellect, professor Kaufmann was totally dedicated to his calling as a scientist, writer and educator. Material wealth, status and prestige were far removed from his goals in life. He was an avid conversationalist on issues related to science and especially fuzzy set theory. Somehow, the concept of a fuzzy set struck a resonant note in his thinking. When I met him in 1970, the enthusiasm of a man of his age made a deep impression on me. I felt very small by comparison."

Selected publications

* Kaufmann, Arnold and R. Cruon. ''La programmation dynamique: gestion scientifique séquentielle.'' Dunod, 1965. * Kaufmann, Arnold, ''Introduction À la Combinatorique en Vue Des Applications, Par A. Kaufmann. Pref. de C. Berge.'' 1968 * Kaufmann, Arnold. ''Confiance technique : théorie mathématique de la fiabilité.'' Dunod, 1969 * Kaufmann, Arnold and Jacques Pezé. ''Des Sous-hommes et des super-machines.'' Paris : A. Michel, 1970. * Kaufmann, Arnold. ''Introduction to the theory of fuzzy subsets.'' Vol. 2. Academic Pr, 1975. * Kaufmann, Arnold. "Introduction à la théorie des sous-ensembles flous à l'usage des ingénieurs. Tome III, Applications à la classification et à la reconnaissance des formes, aux automates et aux systèmes, aux choix des critères." (1975). * Kaufmann, Arnold and Robert Faure. ''Invitation à la recherche opérationnelle.'' Dunod Entreprise, Méthodes et Techniques de Gestion, 1982. * Kaufmann, Arnold, and Madan M. Gupta. ''Fuzzy mathematical models in engineering and management science.'' Elsevier Science Inc., 1988.

References

External links

Pour saluer la mémoire du Professeur Arnold Kaufmann. (1911 - 1994)
at polytech.univ-smb.fr (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufmann, Arnold 1911 births 1994 deaths 20th-century French engineers French operations researchers Academic staff of Mines Paris - PSL Academic staff of Grenoble Institute of Technology