Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich (January 19, 1912 in Petersburg — April 7, 1986 in Moscow) was a Soviet/Russian mathematician and economist. He is famous for his theory and development of techniques for the optimal allocation of resources. He was the winner of the 1975 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Kantorovich worked for the Soviet government. He was given the task of optimizing production in a plywood industry. He came up with the mathematical technique known as linear programming. He authored several books including The Mathematical Method of Production Planning and Organization and The Best Uses of Economic Resources.

The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences, which he shared with Tjalling Koopmans, was given "for their contributions to the theory of optimal allocation of resources."

See also

• List of economists
• List of economics consultancies and think tanks

External links

• Leonid Kantorovich (with a small photo)
• Biography on the homepage of Sobolev Institute of Mathematics, in Russian
• mmonline.ru On Leonid Kantorovich and linear programming (in Russian), by Anatoly Vershik