By Marthi Harmse
The ORSSA SIG on the history of OR in South Africa was privileged on Tuesday 13 August to learn from another honorary life member of the Society namely Gerhard Geldenhuys. Gerhard is an emeritus professor of applied mathematics at Stellenbosch University. He has been instrumental in mentoring numerous OR students and professionals – of whom many are ORSSA members – and in shaping the direction of OR in South Africa. The prestigious medal awarded to the winner of the honours or fourth-year category of the annual national student competition therefore is named after him.
Gerhard reflected on activities in OR in various fields in South Africa from the 1950s until the mid 1980s. For example, in 1959 a group of honours students in mathematics at the University of Stellenbosch discovered a book in the university library on OR by Churchman, Ackoff and Arnoff published in 1957. It contained case studies on inventory modelling, allocation modelling, waiting-time modelling, replacement modelling and competitive modelling. Although the book was not prescribed in the course, the group decided to read and discuss it on their own and were very excited about the possibilities of similar applications in South Africa. It sounds like a SIG on OR...
While studying at Harvard University in 1962, Gerhard joined the American Operations Research Society and purchased all the published volumes of their journal Operations Research. He was surprised to hear that Bob Tusenius from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria attended the founding conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) in 1959. On his return to South Africa, Gerhard was recruited by Alewyn Burger to conduct a survey of the possible applications of OR in South Africa, and to present a series of lectures on OR for the staff at the National Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (NRIMS). Alewyn established the NRIMS at the CSIR in 1961, which played a huge role in the development of OR in South Africa. At that stage, OR was already applied in South Africa in mining by Danie Krige and Herbert Sichel. Herbert established a consulting company namely the Operational Research Bureau in 1952 and may truly be called the father of OR in South Africa. OR also was applied in the PUTCO bus company in Johannesburg, the South African Railways, the South African Defence Force, and the South African Iron and Steel Industrial Corporation (Iscor).
Members of the NRIMS gradually moved to universities to establish OR courses at various universities, making use of the lecture notes compiled by Gerhard. We are grateful to Hans for offering to donate a copy of these to the ORSSA archives. NRIMS members also moved to other organisations to apply OR such as the post office and Iscor. A number of young operations researchers in the meanwhile returned from studies overseas to strengthen offerings at universities and to apply OR for example in the banking sector and the Atomic Energy Board. OR also was applied in copper mines in Zambia and the African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI). The above pioneers of OR in South Africa worked very hard to gather interested individuals from diverse fields throughout the country to establish the OR Society of South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand on Thursday 20 November 1969. Maybe something similar could be done to regather all individuals practicing OR throughout the country?
Gerhard continues to play an important role in archiving and reflecting on the history of OR and ORSSA to preserve the knowledge and methodologies developed over many years. He keeps inspiring young OR practitioners to learn from past achievements and challenges. Gerhard also played a pivotal role in my decision to follow a career in OR through a one-on-one discussion which he had with each of his third year students. Thank you for ensuring that OR continues to grow and adapt to new challenges.
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