Harold William Kuhn (July 29, 1925 – July 2, 2014) was an American
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
who studied
game theory. He won the 1980
John von Neumann Theory Prize
The John von Neumann Theory Prize of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
is awarded annually to an individual (or sometimes a group) who has made fundamental and sustained contributions to theory in operat ...
along with
David Gale
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
and
Albert W. Tucker. A former Professor Emeritus of
Mathematics at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, he is known for the
Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions
In mathematical optimization, the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions, also known as the Kuhn–Tucker conditions, are first derivative tests (sometimes called first-order necessary conditions) for a solution in nonlinear programming to be o ...
, for
Kuhn's theorem In game theory, Kuhn's theorem relates perfect recall, mixed and unmixed strategies and their expected payoffs. It is named after Harold W. Kuhn.
The theorem states that in a game where players may remember all of their previous moves/states of t ...
, for developing
Kuhn poker Kuhn poker is an extremely simplified form of poker developed by Harold W. Kuhn as a simple model zero-sum two-player imperfect-information game, amenable to a complete game-theoretic analysis. In Kuhn poker, the deck includes only three playing c ...
as well as the description of the
Hungarian method for the
assignment problem
The assignment problem is a fundamental combinatorial optimization problem. In its most general form, the problem is as follows:
:The problem instance has a number of ''agents'' and a number of ''tasks''. Any agent can be assigned to perform any ta ...
. Recently, though, a paper by
Carl Gustav Jacobi
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (; ; 10 December 1804 – 18 February 1851) was a German mathematician who made fundamental contributions to elliptic functions, dynamics, differential equations, determinants, and number theory. His name is occas ...
, published posthumously in 1890 in Latin, has been discovered that anticipates by many decades the
Hungarian algorithm.
Life
Kuhn was born in Santa Monica in 1925. He is known for his association with
John Forbes Nash
John Forbes Nash Jr. (June 13, 1928 – May 23, 2015) was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. Nash and fellow g ...
, as a fellow graduate student, a lifelong friend and colleague, and a key figure in getting Nash the attention of the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
committee that led to Nash's 1994
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in Economics. Kuhn and Nash both had long associations and collaborations with
Albert W. Tucker, who was Nash's dissertation advisor. Kuhn co-edited ''The Essential John Nash'', and is credited as the mathematics consultant in the 2001 movie adaptation of Nash's life, ''
A Beautiful Mind''.
Harold Kuhn served as the third president of the
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). He was elected to the 2002 class of
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
s of the
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics. It was established in 1995 with the merger o ...
.
In 1949, he married Estelle Henkin, sister of logician
Leon Henkin
Leon Albert Henkin (April 19, 1921, Brooklyn, New York - November 1, 2006, Oakland, California) was an American logician, whose works played a strong role in the development of logic, particularly in the theory of types. He was an active scholar ...
. His oldest son was oral historian
Clifford Kuhn (1952-2015), an associate professor at Georgia State University noted for his scholarship on the American South. Another son, Nicholas Kuhn, is a professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia. His youngest son, Jonathan Kuhn, is Director of Art and Antiquities for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
Kuhn died on July 2, 2014.
Bibliography
*
**
* Owen, Guillermo. (2004
"IFORS' Operational Research Hall of Fame Harold W. Kuhn"''International Transactions in Operational Research'' 11 (6), 715–718. .
* Kuhn, H.W. ''Classics in Game Theory''. (
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...
, 1997). .
* Kuhn, H.W. ''Linear Inequalities and Related Systems (AM-38)'' (Princeton University Press, 1956). .
* Kuhn, H.W. ''Contributions to the Theory of Games, I (AM-24)''. (Princeton University Press, 1950). .
* Kuhn, H.W. ''Contributions to the Theory of Games, II (AM-28)'' (Princeton University Press, 1953). .
* Kuhn, H.W. ''Lectures on the Theory of Games''. (Princeton University Press, 2003). .
* Kuhn, H.W. and Nasar, Sylvia, editors. ''The Essential John Nash''. (Princeton University Press, 2001). .
References
External links
*
Princeton University Press: The Essential John NashCollaboration with George Dantzigbiography of Harold Kuhnfrom the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Harold
20th-century American mathematicians
1925 births
Game theorists
Princeton University faculty
John von Neumann Theory Prize winners
Fellows of the Econometric Society
2014 deaths
Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Presidents of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Fair division researchers