Evelyn Martin Lansdowne Beale FRS (8 September 1928 – 23 December 1985) was an

applied 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 One ...

and statistician who was one of the pioneers of

mathematical programming Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...

Career

He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, graduating with First Class Honours in mathematics in 1949 and gaining a diploma in mathematical statistics in 1950. He then joined the Mathematics Group at the UK

Admiralty Research Laboratory The Admiralty Research Laboratory (ARL) was a research laboratory that supported the work of the UK Admiralty in Teddington, London, England from 1921 to 1977. History During the First World War, the Anti-Submarine Division of the Admiralty ha ...

, working under Stephen Vajda for 11 years, except for a leave of absence in 1957/58 to assist the Statistical Techniques Research Group at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

.C-E-I-R handbook ''new approaches to management control'', Jan 1963, p10 http://sciconconnect.com/index.php?option=com_morfeoshow&task=view&gallery=3&Itemid=24''Optima'' 18, p1 http://www.mathopt.org/Old-Optima-Issues/optima18.pdfObituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' 28 December 1985, p8 In 1955 he extended

George Dantzig George Bernard Dantzig (; November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was an American mathematical scientist who made contributions to industrial engineering, operations research, computer science, economics, and statistics. Dantzig is known for his dev ...

Simplex Algorithm In mathematical optimization, Dantzig's simplex algorithm (or simplex method) is a popular algorithm for linear programming. The name of the algorithm is derived from the concept of a simplex and was suggested by T. S. Motzkin. Simplices are n ...

to minimise a

quadratic function In mathematics, a quadratic polynomial is a polynomial of degree two in one or more variables. A quadratic function is the polynomial function defined by a quadratic polynomial. Before 20th century, the distinction was unclear between a polynomial ...

. In 1961 he became a founder member of a computer services company C.E.I.R (UK), which BP bought and renamed Scicon, and in 1967 he became visiting professor at

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, London. Beale was chairman of the

Mathematical Programming Society The Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS), known as the Mathematical Programming Society until 2010,Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

from 1978 to 1980, a Fellow of the

British Computer Society Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957 BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, known as the British Computer Society until 2009, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in infor ...

, and a member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

. In 1979, he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

"for his applications of mathematical and statistical techniques to industrial problems and for his contributions to the theory of mathematical programming", and he was elected to the Council of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1984. He was awarded the Silver Medal of the Operational Research Society in 1980, and became vice-president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. He was also non-executive chairman of Beale International Technology. ''

'' suggested that he "used his blend of theory and state-of-the-art practice to encourage several generations of young mathematicians and computer scientists," and that his "many papers and his seminal book ''Mathematical Programming in Practice'' were major influences in their field, with their succinctness and clarity." Beale's FRS memoir mentioned his "extraordinary skill" and "substantial contributions to knowledge".

Memorials

* The

Mathematical Programming Society The Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS), known as the Mathematical Programming Society until 2010,Operational Research Society The Operational Research Society (ORS), also known as The OR Society, is an international learned society in the field of operational research (OR), with more than 3,100 members (2021). It has its headquarters in Birmingham, England. History The ...

awards the Beale Medal for "the most outstanding sustained contribution to Operational Research". * A two-day symposium was held in his memory at the Royal Society in 1987. * The book '' Questions of Truth'' is dedicated to him and Ruth Polkinghorne. * He makes a cameo appearance in E.M. Delafield's ''A Provincial Lady Goes Further''.Obituary of Muriel Rebecca Beale OBE in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' 28 December 1993 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-betsy-beale-1469613.html

Publications

Beale produced over 100 scholarly papers and two books: * * (Based on his lecture notes and working papers at Scicon and edited by his former colleague Lynne Mackley.)

Family

Beale was a son of Muriel Rebecca Beale OBE, descendant of General Sir John Slade, grandniece of

Edmond Warre Edmond Warre (12 February 1837 – 22 January 1920) was an English rower and Head Master of Eton College from 1884 to 1905. Early life and education Warre was born in London, the son of Henry Warre, of Bindon House, near Milverton, Somerset. ...

, niece of Henry Adolphus Warre Slade, daughter of Marcus Warre Slade

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

, and first cousin of Madelaine Slade. He was survived by his wife and three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beale, Martin 1928 births 1985 deaths 20th-century British mathematicians Fellows of the British Computer Society Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute