一小时邀请报告简介之十二：数学优化决策

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一小时邀请报告简介之十二：数学优化决策
（转自2006年国际数学家大会官方网站）

Plenary Lecture: Arkadi Nemirovski
Mathematics for Making the Right Decisions

“There is a branch of applied mathematics that seeks to respond to one of the basic human desires, making the right decisions”. This is mathematician Arkadi Nemirovski’s poetic reply when asked if he would like the public to know about his field of work. Nemirovski, who will be giving one of the plenary lectures at the next Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid, has developed his career in the field of mathematical programming focused on theory and numerical algorithms for solutions to problems of optimization. This involves taking into account various criteria among which the optimum solution to one of these criterions is sought, given the restriction of the values of the others. In his lecture he will present the advances in a particular group of problems known in mathematics as convex problems.

This mathematician who lives and works in Israel draws a distinction between “traditional” mathematics and his own particular field, which may surprise many who associate mathematics exclusively with numbers. While early or “classical” mathematics are more descriptive and seek solutions with an analytical form, mathematics related to programming are more “operational”, since their purpose is to find a numerical solution.

As Nemirovski points out, “in mathematics there is no magic wand for solving all the problems posed by real life”.  Only solutions to quantifiable problems can be found in the field of numerical programming. However, they cover a wide range. Arkadi Nemirovski gives examples as diverse as the preparation of cattle feed containing all the necessary nutrients at a minimum cost, the design of parts for cars or electrical circuits in engineering, or the conversion of medical data into 3D image simulation.

Arkadi Nemirovski was born in Moscow in 1947. He graduated in 1970 and obtained his PhD in mathematics from Moscow State University in 1973. Since 1993 he has taught at the Israel Technological Institute and has gained many honours throughout his career. In 1982 he was awarded the Fulkerson Prize from the American Mathematical Society and the Society of Mathematical Programming, his field of specialization. In 1991 he was awarded the Dantzig Prize and in 2003 the John von Neumann Theory Prize.

Speaker: Arkadi Nemirovski
Title: Advances in Convex Optimization: Conic Programming
Date: Monday, August 28th: 10:15-11:15

ICM2006 Scientific Programme：http://www.icm2006.org/scientificprogram/plenarylectures/

（转自2006年国际数学家大会官方网站）