Biography:Melvin Dresher

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Short description: Polish-American mathematician (1911-1992)
Melvin Dresher
Melvin-dresher.jpg
Melvin Dresher, early 1940s
Born(1911-03-13)March 13, 1911
Krasnystaw, Poland
DiedJune 4, 1992(1992-06-04) (aged 81)
Kern, California, US
EducationLehigh University
Yale University
Known forPrisoner's dilemma
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsMichigan State College
War Production Board
National Defense Research Committee
Catholic University of America
RAND
Doctoral advisorØystein Ore

Melvin Dresher (born Dreszer; March 13, 1911 – June 4, 1992) was a Poland -born United States mathematician, notable for developing, with Merrill Flood, the game theoretical model of cooperation and conflict known as the Prisoner's dilemma while at RAND in 1950 (Albert W. Tucker gave the game its prison-sentence interpretation, and thus the name by which it is known today).[1][2]

Education and career

The Mathematics of Games of Strategy: Theory and Applications by Melvin Dresher

Dresher came to the United States in 1923. He obtained his B.S. from Lehigh University in 1933 and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1937 under the supervision of Øystein Ore; the title of his dissertation was "Multi-Groups: A Generalisation of the Notion of Group." Dresher worked as instructor of mathematics, Michigan State College, 1938–1941; statistician, War Production Board, 1941–1944; mathematical physicist, National Defense Research Committee, 1944–1946; professor of mathematics, Catholic University of America, 1946–1947; research mathematician, RAND, from 1948.

Dresher was the author of several RAND research papers on game theory, and his widely acclaimed The Mathematics of Games of Strategy: Theory and Applications (originally published in 1961 as Games of Strategy: Theory and Applications) continues to be read today. Dresher's research has been referred to and discussed in a variety of published books, including Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone and A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar.[3]

Family

Dresher married Martha Whitaker (m. 1937) and is survived by his daughter Olivia Dresher (b. 1945)[4] and son Paul Dresher (b. 1951).

Bibliography

References

  • Obituary, July 2, 1992 issue of the Palisadian-Post newspaper (Pacific Palisades, California).
  • "In Remembrance", July 9, 1992 issue of RAND Items (a biweekly publication for employees of RAND).
  1. Taylor, Timothy (2020-01-17). "CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST: The Prisoner's Dilemma: Celebrating its 70th Anniversary". https://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-prisoners-dilemma-celebrating-its.html. 
  2. Kuhn, Steven (2019), Zalta, Edward N., ed., "Prisoner’s Dilemma", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/prisoner-dilemma/, retrieved 2023-12-23 
  3. Hounshell, David (1997). "The Cold War, RAND, and the Generation of Knowledge, 1946-1962". Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 27 (2): 237–267. doi:10.2307/27757779. ISSN 0890-9997. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27757779. 
  4. Dresher, Olivia (2020-01-17). "OliviaDresher.com: BIO". http://fraglit.com/od/bio/.