Abstract
So far we have discussed the impact of science on the war in relation to the development of new weapons or equipment which contributed to victory. There was another kind of scientific work which became known as operational research (OR). For the first time in the history of warfare scientists of varied disciplines were brought in to apply scientific methods to the problems facing commanders engaged in battle. Most of these problems, particularly in air and sea operations, could be reduced to numerical terms. More often than not, the scientists had to discover for himself the fields in which scientific analysis would be profitable.
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Notes
Lord Zuckerman, Six Men out of the Ordinary, London, 1992, p. 22.
P. M. S. Blackett, ‘Scientists at the Operational Level’ - see app. 1, The Origins and Development of Operational Research in the Royal Air Force, HMSO, London, 1963.
Edward Meade Earle, Makers of Modern Strategy, Princeton University Press, 1944, p. 37.
A. V. Hill, The Ethical Dilemma of Science, Oxford University Press, 1960.
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Jonathan Rosenhead, ‘Operational Research at the Crossroads: Cecil Gordon and the Development of Post-war OR’, J. Opl. Res. Soc., vol. 40, 1989, pp. 4–9.
Solly Zuckerman, From Apes to Warlords, 1904–1946, London, 1978, pp. 113–30.
M. Kirby and R. Capey, ‘The area bombing of Germany in World War II: an operational research perspective’, J. Opl. Res. Soc., vol. 48, 1997, p. 666.
Freeman Dyson, ‘The Flying Coffins of Bomber Command’, The Observer Magazine, 28 October 1979, p. 69.
Michael Howard, Grand Strategy, vol. V, HMSO, London, 1972, pp. 303–4.
J. G. Crowtherarid R. Whiddington, Science at War, HMSO, 1947, pp. 107–13.
P. M. S. Blackett, ‘Critique of Some Contemporary Defence Thinking’, Encounter, vol. XVI, April 1961, p. 9.
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© 2000 Guy Hartcup
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Hartcup, G. (2000). Birth of a New Science: Operational Research. In: The Effect of Science on the Second World War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596177_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596177_6
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