Alexander Hendrik George Rinnooy Kan (born 5 October 1949) is a Dutch politician, businessman and mathematician who served as Chairman of the

Social and Economic Council The Social and Economic Council (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Sociaal-Economische Raad'', SER) is a major economic advisory council to the cabinet of the Netherlands. Formally it heads a Publiekrechtelijke Bedrijfsorganisatie, system of sector-based ...

from 2006 to 2012. A member of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; D66) is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Li ...

(D66) party, he was a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 2015 to 2019 and is a distinguished professor of Economics and Business Studies at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

since 1 September 2012. He has also been president of the supervisory board of

EYE Film Institute Netherlands Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. Location and history Eye Filmmuseum is located in the Overhoeks neighborhood of Amsterdam in ...

since 2008 and of

Museum Boerhaave Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is a museum of the history of science and medicine, based in Leiden, Netherlands. The museum hosts a collection of historical scientific instruments from all disciplines, but mainly from medicine, physics, and astronomy. Th ...

since 2018.

Biography

Early life and education

Rinnooy Kan grew up in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. He graduated with a

doctorandus Doctorandus (; ; drs.) is a Dutch academic title according to the pre- Bachelor– Master system. The female form is doctoranda (dra.; this form is not commonly used). The title is acquired by passing the ''doctoraalexamen'', the exam which usua ...

degree (eq. to MSc) in mathematics at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

in 1972. The same year, he also obtained a

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

degree (eq. to BSc) in

econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

from the

. In 1972–1973, he worked as a mathematician at Spectrum Encyclopedia. From 1973 until 1977, he was a scientific employee in the Department of Mathematics and

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

(then called the Delft Technical College). In 1976, he obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in mathematics at the

; he was advised by

Gijsbert de Leve Gijsbert "Gijs" de Leve (15 August 1926 – 19 November 2009) was a Dutch mathematician and operations researcher, known for his work on Markov decision process. Gijs de Leve is considered the founder of operations research in the Netherlands. ...

Private career

In 1977, he went to the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

, where he became a full

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Operations Research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

in 1980 at the age of 30. In 1983, he was appointed head of the

Econometric Institute Econometric Institute (Dutch ''Econometrisch Instituut'') at the Erasmus University Rotterdam is a leading research institute in the fields of econometrics and management science in the Netherlands. The Institute offers advanced education in econom ...

and in 1986

rector magnificus A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world, the rector is often the most senior official in a u ...

of the university. In the meantime, he was visiting professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, among others. From 1991 until 1996, he was president of the employers federation VNO and (after the merger with NCW) of the

VNO-NCW VNO-NCW (known in English language, English as the "Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers") is a Dutch Employers' organization, employers' federation founded in 1996 as a merger of the Christian-democratic ''Nederlands Christelijk We ...

. Between 1996 and 2006, Rinnooy Kan was a member of the board of directors of

ING Group ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, whol ...

, where he was responsible for the Asian branch. He was a member of the Netherlands Innovation Platform until the platform was dissolved in 2010.

Social Economic Council

From 2006 until 2012, he was a crown-appointed member and Chairman of the

(SER). He was succeeded in this position by Wiebe Draijer. During his farewell party at the SER he was appointed Commander in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

. The Dutch newspaper ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'' named him the most influential person in the Netherlands in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Senate

On 9 June 2015, he became a member of the

on behalf of the

party. He did not seek reelection to the upper chamber in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

; his term ended on 11 June 2019.

Publications

Books

* 1985 ''The Traveling Salesman Problem: A Guided Tour of Combinatorial Optimization''. With Eugene L. Lawler, Jan Karel Lenstra, and David B. Shmoys. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. * 1993, ''Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science, Vol. 4: Logistics of Production and Inventory.'' with Stephen C. Graves, and Paul Herbert Zipkin, eds.

Selected articles

* Byrd, R. H., Dert, C. L., Rinnooy Kan, A. H. G., & Schnabel, R. B. (1990). "Concurrent Stochastic Methods for Global Optimization". ''

Mathematical Programming Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfiel ...

'', 46(1-3), 1-29. * Lenstra, A. K., A. H. G. Rinnooy Kan, and Alexander Schrijver. "History of Mathematical Programming: A Collection of Personal Reminiscences." (1991). * Bastian, Cock, and Alexander H. G. Rinnooy Kan. "The Stochastic Vehicle Routing Problem Revisited." ''European Journal of Operational Research'' 56.3 (1992): 407–412. * Flippo, O. E., & Rinnooy Kan, A. H. G. (1993). "Decomposition in General Mathematical Programming". ''

'', 60(1-3), 361–382. * Lawler, Eugene L., J. K. Lenstra, A. H. G. Rinnooy Kan, and D.B. Shmoys .
Sequencing and Scheduling: Algorithms and Complexity
" ''Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science'' 4 (1993): 445–522.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Prof.Dr. A.H.G. (Alexander) Rinnooy Kan
Parlement & Politiek *
Prof.Dr. A.H.G. Rinnooy Kan (D66)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinnooy Kan, Alexander 1949 births Living people Business educators Chairmen of the Social and Economic Council Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Democrats 66 politicians Dutch academic administrators Dutch business theorists Dutch business writers Dutch corporate directors Dutch financial writers Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch trade association executives Dutch political writers Dutch technology writers Academic staff of Erasmus University Rotterdam Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Mathematical economists Mathematics writers Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Members of the Social and Economic Council People from Bloemendaal Politicians from The Hague Rectors of universities in the Netherlands University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch mathematicians 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch businesspeople 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch economists 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch mathematicians 21st-century Dutch politicians