Optimization at Linköping University: A short history

by Professor Sven Erlander

Teaching and research in Optimization started in the Spring semester of 1971. Sven Erlander became the first professor. The first group of engineering students (I-, M- and Y-programs) entered the university in 1969, and took their basic Optimization course during their fourth semester in the Spring of 1971.

The lecture halls of the new Linköping University were built and equipped with the idea of using video technique for the basic courses in mathematical subjects. After a few years this premature experiment was surmised by the university. However, the video course on Flows in Networks developed by P O Lindberg was amongst the latest to be replaced by traditional teaching methods.

At the start there were three Ph D students; Per-Åke Andersson, Kurt Jörnsten, Siv Schéele. The first undergraduate student to obtain a Ph D was Åsa Hallefjord 1984, followed by Kaj Holmberg 1985, Mikael Näsberg 1985 and Torbjörn Larsson 1986.

Distinguished early visitors were Abraham Charnes, Harald Cramér, George B Dantzig (Honorary Doctor's Degree 1975), Ulf Grenander, and the Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences K V Kantorovich.