About the Author

Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich (1912-1986) was a prominent Soviet mathematician who did important work in many areas of mathematics including functional analysis, operator theory, and approximation theory. He graduated from Leningrad University at the age of 18 and was a full professor there four years later. He is regarded as the founder of linear programming. Vladimir Ivanovich Krylov (1902-1994) was also a Soviet mathemnatician.