Mathematical Programming as an Intellectual Activity

For every scientific discipline, a process of reappraisal and evaluation of the discipline as a whole forms a natural topic for informal discussion among scientists. These discussions — typically held between lectures or after dinner — might focus on the promise held out by a new development, on the tenacity of certain venerable subareas within the discipline or on the growth (or decline) of prominent research groups. In every case, the discussion is part of a natural mechanism through which a scientific community strives for some consensus on what the state of the discipline is and where it might be heading next.