the john von neumann theory prize of the institute for operations research and the management sciences (informs) is awarded annually to an individual (or sometimes a group) who has made fundamental and sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences. it is regarded the "nobel prize" of the field. the prize named after mathematician john von neumann is awarded for a body of work, rather than a single piece. the prize was intended to reflect contributions that have stood the test of time. the criteria include significance, innovation, depth, and scientific excellence. the award is $5,000, a medallion and a citation. the prize has been awarded since 1975. the first recipient was george b. dantzig for his work on linear programming. == list of recipients == * 2014 nimrod megiddo ** for fundamental contributions across a broad range of areas of operations research and management science, most notably in linear programming, combinatorial optimization, and algorithmic game theory. * 2013 michel balinski. * 2012 george nemhauser and laurence wolsey. , informs announcement * 2011 gÃ©rard cornuÃ©jols, ibm university professor of operations research at carnegie mellon universityâs tepper school of business ** for his fundamental and broad contributions to discrete optimization including his deep research on balanced and ideal matrices, perfect graphs and cutting planes for mixed-integer optimization. * 2010 sÃ¸ren asmussen and peter w. glynn * 2009 yurii nesterov and yinyu ye * 2008 frank kelly * 2007 arthur f. veinott, jr. ** for his profound contributions to three major areas of operations research and management science: inventory theory, dynamic programming and lattice programming. * 2006 martin grÃ¶tschel, lÃ¡szlÃ³ lovÃ¡sz and alexander schrijver ** for their fundamental path-breaking work in combinatorial optimization. * 2005 robert j. aumann ** in recognition of his fundamental contributions to game theory and related areas * 2004 j. michael harrison ** for his profound contributions to two major areas of operations research and management science: stochastic networks and mathematical finance. * 2003 arkadi nemirovski and michael j. todd ** for their seminal and profound contributions in continuous optimization. * 2002 donald l. iglehart and cyrus derman ** for their fundamental contributions to performance analysis and optimization of stochastic systems * 2001 ward whitt ** for his contributions to queueing theory, applied probability and stochastic modelling * 2000 ellis l. johnson and manfred w. padberg * 1999 r. tyrrell rockafellar * 1998 fred w. glover * 1997 peter whittle * 1996 [[pet
Awards_established_in_1975 Computer_science_awards John_von_Neumann_Theory_Prize_winners Science_and_engineering_awards Systems_sciences_awards