Rufus Isaacs American scientist Date of Birth: 11.06.1914 Country: USA

Biography of Rufus Isaac

Rufus Philip Isaac, an American scientist specializing in game theory, was born in New York. His diverse interests included game theory, graph theory, and aerodynamics. However, it was in the field of differential games that Isaac gained the most recognition. After obtaining his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936, he went on to earn a master's degree and a doctorate from Columbia University in 1942.

Isaac's early career included a stint at the University of Notre Dame, but he had to leave due to issues with his salary in 1947. From 1948 to the winter of 1954-1955, Isaac worked at the RAND Corporation. During this time, he focused on solving problems related to classical zero-sum games such as pursuit-evasion games. One notable game he developed was "Princess and Monster," which is still being studied today to analyze optimal strategies. Many details of Isaac's work at RAND remain classified, but some hints about his previous research were revealed when he published his classic work on differential games. By this time, Isaac had already left RAND a decade earlier.

Isaac's mathematical research primarily revolved around fractional orders, graph theory, number theory, and analytic functions. He achieved impressive results in his investigations, including the discovery of the first two finite families of snarks in graph theory. By generalizing the existing Blanchet method, Isaac identified two infinite families of snarks: the "flowers" and the "Blanchard-Cartesian-Szekeres snarks." He also found a 30-vertex snark, known as the "double star," which did not belong to either of the two families. Apart from pure mathematics, Isaac also delved into applied mathematics, particularly in the fields of aerodynamics, optimization problems, elasticity of materials, and differential games, which ultimately brought him fame.

After leaving RAND, Isaac primarily worked in the defense and aviation industries. Throughout his career, he collaborated with notable researchers such as Richard E. Bellman, Leonard D. Berkovitz, David H. Blackwell, John M. Danskin, Melvin Dresher, Wendell H. Fleming, Irving L. Glicksberg, Oliver A. Gross, Samuel Karlin, John W. Milnor, John F. Nash, and Lloyd S. Shapley. Isaac made significant contributions to the development of mathematical optimization theory, particularly in the areas of dynamic programming and the Pontryagin maximum principle. The theories introduced by Rufus Isaac continue to be actively used in economics and other scientific fields.

In 1942, Isaac married Rose Barcov, and they had two daughters. In 2003, the Executive Council of the International Society of Dynamic Games established the Rufus Isaac Prize for Outstanding Contributions to the Theory and Application of Dynamic Games. This prize is awarded to two scientists at each symposium of the Society and is named in honor of Rufus Isaac. To date, twelve scientists have received the Isaac Prize.