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 operations research and the management sciences.

The Prize named after mathematician John von Neumann is awarded for a body of work, rather than a single piece. The Prize was intended to reflect contributions that have stood the test of time. The criteria include significance, innovation, depth, and scientific excellence.

The award is $5,000, a medallion and a citation.

The Prize has been awarded since 1975. The first recipient was George B. Dantzig for his work on linear programming.

List of recipients

 * 2023 Christos Papadimitriou and Mihalis Yannakakis
 * 2022 Vijay Vazirani
 * 2021 Alexander Shapiro
 * 2020 Adrian Lewis
 * 2019 Dimitris Bertsimas and Jong-Shi Pang
 * 2018 Dimitri Bertsekas and John Tsitsiklis
 * for contributions to Parallel and Distributed Computation as well as Neurodynamic Programming.
 * 2017 Donald Goldfarb and Jorge Nocedal
 * for seminal contributions to the theory and applications of nonlinear optimization over the past several decades.
 * 2016 Martin I. Reiman and Ruth J. Williams
 * for seminal research contributions over the past several decades, to the theory and applications of “stochastic networks/systems” and their “heavy traffic approximations.”
 * 2015 Vašek Chvátal  and   Jean Bernard Lasserre
 * for seminal and profound contributions to the theoretical foundations of optimization.
 * 2014 Nimrod Megiddo
 * for fundamental contributions across a broad range of areas of operations research and management science, most notably in linear programming, combinatorial optimization, and algorithmic game theory.
 * 2013 Michel Balinski
 * 2012 George Nemhauser and Laurence Wolsey
 * 2011 Gérard Cornuéjols, IBM University Professor of Operations Research at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business
 * for his fundamental and broad contributions to discrete optimization including his deep research on balanced and ideal matrices, perfect graphs and cutting planes for mixed-integer optimization.
 * 2010 Søren Asmussen and Peter W. Glynn
 * 2009 Yurii Nesterov and Yinyu Ye
 * 2008 Frank Kelly
 * 2007 Arthur F. Veinott, Jr.
 * for his profound contributions to three major areas of operations research and management science: inventory theory, dynamic programming and lattice programming.
 * 2006 Martin Grötschel, László Lovász and Alexander Schrijver
 * for their fundamental path-breaking work in combinatorial optimization.
 * 2005 Robert J. Aumann
 * in recognition of his fundamental contributions to game theory and related areas
 * 2004 J. Michael Harrison
 * for his profound contributions to two major areas of operations research and management science: stochastic networks and mathematical finance.
 * 2003 Arkadi Nemirovski and Michael J. Todd
 * for their seminal and profound contributions in continuous optimization.
 * 2002 Donald L. Iglehart and Cyrus Derman
 * for their fundamental contributions to performance analysis and optimization of stochastic systems
 * 2001 Ward Whitt
 * for his contributions to queueing theory, applied probability and stochastic modelling
 * 2000 Ellis L. Johnson and Manfred W. Padberg
 * 1999 R. Tyrrell Rockafellar
 * 1998 Fred W. Glover
 * 1997 Peter Whittle
 * 1996 Peter C. Fishburn
 * 1995 Egon Balas
 * 1994 Lajos Takacs
 * 1993 Robert Herman
 * 1992 Alan J. Hoffman and Philip Wolfe
 * 1991 Richard E. Barlow and Frank Proschan
 * 1990 Richard Karp
 * 1989 Harry M. Markowitz
 * 1988 Herbert A. Simon
 * 1987 Samuel Karlin
 * 1986 Kenneth J. Arrow
 * 1985 Jack Edmonds
 * 1984 Ralph Gomory
 * 1983 Herbert Scarf
 * 1982 Abraham Charnes, William W. Cooper, and Richard J. Duffin
 * 1981 Lloyd Shapley
 * 1980 David Gale, Harold W. Kuhn, and Albert W. Tucker
 * 1979 David Blackwell
 * 1978 John F. Nash and Carlton E. Lemke
 * 1977 Felix Pollaczek
 * 1976 Richard Bellman
 * 1975 George B. Dantzig for his work on linear programming

There is also an IEEE John von Neumann Medal awarded by the IEEE annually "for outstanding achievements in computer-related science and technology".