2023 Winner(s)
- Christos Papadimitriou, Columbia University
- Mihalis Yannakakis, Columbia University
The 2023 INFORMS John von Neumann Theory Prize is awarded to Christos H. Papadimitriou and Mihalis Yannakakis for their fundamental and sustained contributions to computational complexity theory and providing an understanding of the limits of efficient solvability for a wide range of decision and optimization problems central to operations research and the management sciences (OR/MS).
As an example of a major contribution, Papadimitriou and Yannakakis introduced Max-NP and Max-SNP, natural variants of the NP complexity class, comprised of certain optimization problems that can be approximated with bounded error (Papadimitriou & Yannakakis 1988). Within these classes, they showed that several common problems have polynomial-time approximation schemes only if the whole class does.
Other major contributions include establishing the NP-completeness of the Euclidean traveling salesman problem (Papadimitriou 1977), an early tour de force in the traditional framework, and characterizing the complexity of many other natural problems. Examples include: checking the validity of facets of polytopes (Papadimitriou and Yannakakis 1984); determining whether a problem has a unique optimal solution (Papadimitriou 1984); local search (Johnson, Papadimitriou and Yannakakis 1988); the extension complexity of LP formulations for the matching and traveling salesman problems (Yannakakis 1988), a paper that erected a firewall to scores of would-be P=NP proofs; and computing Nash equilibria. In the online setting, their work on finding online solutions with a bounded competitive ratio (Papadimitriou and Yannakakis 1991, 1993) has been highly influential. Finally, the introduction of the concept of the “price of anarchy” (Koutsoupias & Papadimitriou 1999, Yannakakis 2009) was a catalyst for major developments in algorithmic game theory, substantially reinforcing the links between economics, computer science, and operations research.
Such contributions have addressed modeling and computational issues at the core of multiple areas in OR/MS; they have helped characterize what is possible and inherently impossible, and more broadly, have provided new tools for such characterizations. Their work has resolved fundamental open problems and sparked new and fruitful lines of research, leading to a better understanding of the field of optimization at large.
Purpose of the Award
2023 Committee Chair
John Tsitsiklis
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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The John von Neumann Theory Prize is awarded annually to a scholar (or scholars in the case of joint work) who has made fundamental, sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences. The award is given each year at the INFORMS Annual Meeting if there is a suitable recipient. Although the Prize is normally given to a single individual, in the case of accumulated joint work, the recipients can be multiple individuals.
The Prize is awarded for a body of work, typically published over a period of several years. Although recent work should not be excluded, the Prize typically reflects contributions that have stood the test of time. The criteria for the Prize are broad, and include significance, innovation, depth, and scientific excellence.
The award is $5,000, a medallion and a citation.
2024 Submission Deadline: June 1, 2024
The Prize Committee is currently seeking nominations, which should be in the form of a letter (preferably email) addressed to the prize committee chair (below), highlighting the nominee's accomplishments. Although the letter need not contain a detailed account of the nominee's research, it should document the overall nature of his or her contributions and their impact on the profession, with particular emphasis on the prize's criteria. The nominee's curriculum vitae, while not mandatory, would be helpful.
About the Award/Namesake
John von Neumann was a brilliant mathematician, synthesizer, and promoter of the stored program concept, whose logical design of the IAS became the prototype of most of its successors - the von Neumann Architecture. von Neumann was invited to visit Princeton University in 1930, and when the Institute for Advanced Studies was founded there in 1933, he was appointed to be one of the original six Professors of Mathematics, a position which he retained for the remainder of his life. Postwar von Neumann concentrated on the development of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) computer and its copies around the world. His work with the Los Alamos group continued and he continued to develop the synergism between computers capabilities and the needs for computational solutions to nuclear problems related to the hydrogen bomb.