| Charles West Churchman (born August 29, 1913 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died March 21, 2004 Bolinas, California) was an American philospher in the field of management science, operations
research and systems theory. He is internationally known for his
pioneering work in operations research and system analysis.
Biography
Churchman studied at the University of
Pennsylvania, where he Bachelor, Master and Doctorate in Philosophy in 1935-38. After
completing his doctorate in philosophy, Dr. Churchman started his professional career at University of Pennsylvania as a
philosophy instructor from 1937 to 1942. He returned
to his alma mater after World War II as an assistant professor in
philosophy. During 1951-1957, he was professor of
engineering and operations research at Case Western
Reserve. In 1957, Dr. Churchman joined the faculty of the University of California at
Berkeley and remained there until his retirement. Furthermore he was the first editor-in-chief of Management Science in 1954.
In 1989 he was president of the International Society for the Systems Sciences.
Work
Churchman authored 12 books:
- (1940) Elements of Logic and Formal Science, J.B. Lippincott Co., New York.
- (1940) Euclid Vindicated of Every Blemish, Translator, Saccheri's
- (1948) Theory of Experimental Inference, Macmillan, New York.
- (1950) Methods of Inquiry: Introduction to Philosophy and Scientific Method, Educational Publications, St. Louis, Missouri.
- (1957) Introduction to Operations Research, (with Russell
L. Ackoff, E.L. Arnoff et al.)
J. Wiley and Sons, New
York.
- (1960) Prediction and Optimal Decision, Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey.
- (1968)Challenge to Reason, McGraw-Hill, New York
- (1968) The Systems Approach, Delacorte Press, New York.
- (1971) The Design of Inquiring Systems, Basic Concepts of Systems and Organizations, Basic Books, New York.
- (1979) The Systems Approach and Its Enemies, Basic Books, New York.
- (1982) Thought and Wisdom; The Gaither Lectures, Intersystems Publications, Seaside, California.
- (1975) Thinking for Decisions: Deductive Quantitative Methods, Science Research Associates, Chicago, Illinois
External links
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