History of operations research in France

Medium of the Fifties with first half of the Seventies

During the years 1950, teams and even of the services of Operations research (RO) are set up in many companies, in particular Air France, Charbonnages de France, Électricité de France, several oil companies (BP, CFP,…), Hundred, Crédit Lyonnais, IBM, Renault, the RATP, the SNCF, Sollac,… Enough early in this decade, the University Office of Operations research (BURO) gathers, under the direction of Georges Th. Guilbaud, of the teacher-researchers (in particular Marc Barbut, Jean Bouzitat, Germain Kreweras, Georges Morlat, Maurice Girault, Edouard Valette, Francoise Peyrot) who endeavor to establish bonds with the nonacademic world to make known and to put into practice the RO. Business firms of council open with operations research (the such CEGOS). Others, more specialized, are created: in 1953, CREATED it (Research center in Economy Applied), then the SEPRO (Practical Survey firm of Operations research) and also, the CFRO (French Center of Operations research), the AUROC (Company for the Advance of the Uses of Civil Operations research), the SMA (Company of Mathematics Applied, 1958) which becomes SOWED it (Company of Economy and Mathematics Applied, 1960).

Military operations research is also very active. In addition to dedicated services (in particular in the Army and the marine), there exists a Interarmées Center of Operations research (CIRO). This center (which also utilizes of the civilians) has an important activity of sensitizings and training of the officers to operations research. The works and the reviews of operations research in English language are diffused very widely during this period. Others also appear in French language. It is with Aix-en-Provence that the International federation of the Companies of Operations research (IFORS created in 1959) organizes its first congress (1960). The two official languages are English and French.

This passion for the RO touches primarily the world of the engineers, the consultancies and industrial environments. One intends to say: “it is new”, “one is ready to test”, “one wants to be the first”. As of the middle of the years 1950, with the seminar of Georges Th. Guilbaud with the Institute Henri Poincaré (IHP), the lecture theaters overflow. Certain polytechnicians make the wall and risk their row of classification to assist to with it. Mathematical lesson of of the decision, linear Programming, Graph theory, Game theory, stochastic Process S, Theory of the tests, Statistical mathematics, Mathematical financial, economy and mathematics, econometrics,… also is very attended within the IHP and more particularly within the framework of the Statistical institute of the University of Paris (ISUP).

With the IHP, for what touches with the RO, university lecturers (Claude Berge, Georges Darmois, Robert Fortet, Georges Th côtoient themselves. Guilbaud, Jean-Andre Ville,…) and teachers having an principal activity out of the academic world such Jean Abadie and Georges Morlat (EDF), Jean Bouzitat (military medium), Maurice Dédé (financial circle), Robert Hénon (contractor), Dickran Indjoudjian (telecommunications then Bank of Paris and the Netherlands), German Kreweras (CREEA),… However, left this microcosm, the official world university is shown very reserved, even hostile with regard to all that touches with the Mathématiques applied.

At that time, in many countries, the pulpits of statistics and operations research make their appearance in many universities. In France, only one pulpit of mathematical statistics was created and none in operations research. It is only after 1968 that optional lesson of RO could be integrated in the university courses not raising of the ISUP. In spite of that, this first period is that during which the RO took root in France.

This first period indeed saw hatching of important theoretical contributions as well as many successful applications. Since 1956, the operational researchers, that they are experts or teachers, took the practice to meet within the framework of the French company of Operations research (SOFRO). It amalgamated, in 1964, with the French Association of Calculation and Data processing (AFCALTI) to give rise to the French Association of Data processing and Operations research (AFIRO). This one again amalgamated, in 1968, with two other associations: the AFRA (research automatically) and the AFIC (instrumentation and control) to give rise to French Association for Economic and Technical Cybernetics (AFCET). These three associations (SOFRO, AFIRO, AFCET) were carried, during this first period, by important personalities (in particular Marcel Boiteux, Georges Th. Guilbaud, Jacques Lesourne, Rene Draper). They strongly contributed so that the RO finds its place in France.

First half of the Seventies with first half of the Nineties

The beginning of the year 1970 marks a deceleration of the activity of RO in the consultancies as well as a progressive disappearance of label RO to designate the teams which have this activity in the companies. That means by no means but one does not practice more operations research. She is more taught, in particular with Paris VI under the impulse of Professor Robert Faure then of Jean-Louis Laurière and in the universities of engineers. She it also, although is turned towards the economic scenes and of management, to the Université of Paris-Dauphine (Bernard Roy, Vidal Cohen) and in the large national colleges of business. She is it also in particular with the Conservatoire National of Arts and Métiers (CNAM) where a pulpit of RO (the only one which will exist in France) is created little before the end of the year 1970 for Professor Robert Faure.

The interest for the RO blunts but in a rather slow way. One observes breathlessness, disenchantment had, for a share, with a too strong enthusiasm and also undoubtedly because it is presented under one day more and more exclusively mathematical. It is strongly questioned in a conference held with Cerisy-the-Room under the direction of Jean-Claude Arditti, Edith Heurgon, Jean-Louis Laurière, Jean-Claude Moisdon and Jean-Patrice Netter in 1978.

Throughout this period, there is what some, some described as “deficit of image”. If one compares with the first period, which is put under initials RO is reduced like a shagreen. These initials are not carrying any more; others invade the scene and make him competition as well in the field of the image as on that of the budgets to finance studies or collaborations with the academic world. One speaks about science or analyzes systems and especially of Artificial intelligence (IA). With the beginning of the year 1980, the work of the knowledge engineers to conceive and set up expert systems is considered to be much more promising than that of the operational researchers. The consultancies give up the RO with the profit of what is called the business computing (which does not have large-thing to see but which, during the years 1980, causes a strong demand).

In way which can appear paradoxical with what precedes, it is however during this second period that the RO and the Decision-making aid (AD) start to profit from the contributions of data processing while making it possible to carry out calculations for problems of reasonable size. Moreover, it is as during these years as reciprocal contributions start to fertilize IA and RO.

First half of the Nineties until now

Years 1990 are remembered by an explosion of the Logiciel S as well scientific as commercial (solvers which accompany the spreadsheves, software of multicriterion assistance to the decision,…). One becomes able to deal with mathematical problems of very big size, including in combinative Optimization.

French research develops with the passing of years thanks to a body of teacher-researchers which increases gradually. One also notes the presence of the RO-AD in increasingly varied sectors:

the Transport (reservations, assignment of the personnel, environmental impacts,…) ;
the Telecommunication S (design of networks, routing,…) ;
the Production (oil, manufacturing, agro-alimentary, automobile,…) ;
the Distribution (Logistic, dimensioning, localization,…) ;
the Bank, the Finance, the Insurance,… ;
the Data-processing and the Computer S (design, manufacture of components, mode of exploitation, storage and data management,…)

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