Arthur A. Brown

Brief Biography

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Arthur A. Brown was a George E. Kimball Medal recipient. Brown studied physics at nearby Oberlin College prior to pursuing graduate study in the subject at Brown University. After receiving his PhD in 1940, he joined Pratt & Whitney Aircraft as an Experimental Test Engineer, retiring from that organization in 1977.

Though he spent the majority of his career at Pratt & Whitney, Brown was among the first individuals to join the operations research group at Arthur D. Little, Inc., joining John Magee, John Lathrop, Sherman Kingsburg, and Martin Ernst. The team, built by Harry B. Wissman, became one of the first nongovernmental operations research consultancy groups in the 1950s.

Beyond his activities with Arthur D. Little and the Operations Research Society of America, Brown dealt with a variety of OR application problems. He wrote on article on the use of search theory, a technique largely used in operations research for the military, in exploration drilling. In the late 1970s, Brown began considering what benefits operations research could bring to the developing world. With Philip M. Morse he published an article in Operations Research on how the International Federation of Operational Research Societies could aid in this effort.

Brown was active in the local politics of Glastonbury, Connecticut, serving on the town’s Public Building Commission, Board of Education, and Republican Town Committee. He led an active lifestyle, enjoying tennis, swimming, skiing, travel, and horticulture. Brown was named an inaugural Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in 2002 and peacefully passed away two years later.