Thomas L. Saaty

Thomas Lorie Saaty (* 1926 in Mosul, Iraq ) is an American mathematician. He is the inventor and designer of the analytical hierarchical process ( AHP), a method for rational decision support for complex decision situations. He developed this method in the 1970s, and generalized them in the Analytic Network Process ( ANP) in the 90s. The ANP supports complex decisions to problems with dependence and feedback. The AHP has now come in thousands of decision situations used. Suitable software is available on the market.

Life and work

Thomas L. Saaty living in the U.S. since early childhood. An academic degrees he acquired in the course of their studies:

  • BA, Columbia Union College, 1948.
  • MS in Physics, Catholic University of America, 1949.
  • MA in Mathematics, Yale University, 1951.
  • Post- graduales studies at the Université de Paris ( Sorbonne ) in 1952-53.
  • PhD, Mathematics, Yale University, 1953 ( dissertation under the supervision of Carl Einar Hille: "On the Bessel Tricomi Equation" ).

Prior to his work at the University of Pittsburgh was Saaty Professor of Statistics and Operations Research at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania ( 1969-1979 ). Before that, he spent 15 years working for U.S. government agencies and government -sponsored research in the area in the company. Immediately after his graduation, he worked for the Operations Evaluation Group of the MIT. Later he was head of the mathematical research and Director of Advanced Planning of the Office of Naval Research and scientific liaison officer at the U.S. Embassy in London. 1963 to 1969 he worked in mathematical research for arms control and disarmament negotiations, the U.S. State Department at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in Washington DC. 1965 to 1967 he was Executive Director of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. He was a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

He taught most recently as Associate Professor Mathematics at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

Research

Saaty has varied researched and published over 30 books and about 300 articles in the fields of mathematics, operations research and decision theory. He conducted research mainly in the fields of graph theory and their applications in nonlinear mathematics, game theory, in the area of ​​parametric linear programming as well as in the fields of queuing theory and the mathematical theory of behavior. Other areas of research touching arms control and disarmament issues, conflict resolution, urban planning, analytical planning and much more Saaty is convinced that human ratings and reviews in mathematical decision models are not always in Cartesian space ( Cartesian coordinate system ) can be mapped.

Prizes and awards

  • Saaty was elected in 1970 in the Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, físicas y Naturales (Spain).
  • In 1973 he was awarded the Lester R. Forward Award of the Mathematical Association of America for his work on the four-color problem.
  • In 2000 he received the Gold Medal of the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making.
  • He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering ( USA), 2005.
  • The Akao Prize from the QFD Institute ( Quality Function Deployment ) has been awarded to him in 2007.

Publications

Analytic hierarchy process ( AHP)

Analytic network process ( ANP)

Neural network process ( NNP)

Operations research

Mathematics

Applied Mathematics

Other countries

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