Henk Joseph Maria (Henk) Lombaers (

Doorn Doorn is a town in the municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the central Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The town is famous for being the final residence of Wilhelm II. History In a document from 885 to 896 the settlement is called ...

, 1920 – 29 August 2007) was a Dutch

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, Professor at Delft University of Technology and a pioneer in the field of

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 the Netherlands.

Life and work

Lombaers undertook

teacher training Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...

. He studied chemistry in Amsterdam but had to terminate his studies prematurely due to the German occupation. From 1945 to 1956 he was employed by the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing a ...

, where he was involved in the introduction of radar-aircraft artillery. In 1956 he joined

Koninklijke Hoogovens Koninklijke Hoogovens known as Koninklijke Nederlandse Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS) until 1996 or informally Hoogovens. is a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. Since 2010, the plant is named Tata Steel IJmuiden. The steelworks based i ...

as an operational researcher. At Hoogovens he conducted research on the transhipment capacity of the port installations using computer simulations. He also looked into the statistical aspects of simulation.H.J.M. Lombaers (1968). "Enige statistische aspecten van simulatie". In: ''Statistica Neerlandica'' 22 (1968) 249–255 In 1968 he was appointed Professor of Quantitative Aspects of Business Administration at the Technical University of Delft, where he held his inaugural address on "Voorzien en verzinnen” (Forecast and Invention). In 1985 he retired with the speech, entitled "Daar moet je maar niet te hard op rekenen" (You shouldn't count on it too much). In Delft Lombaers was succeeded by Joop Evers, who had been Professor at the

University of Twente The University of Twente ( ; Abbreviation, abbr. ) is a Public university, public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. ...

. The PhD students under Lombaers were Jack P.C. Kleijnen (Emeritus Professor of Simulation and Information Systems at Tilburg University (TiU), who graduated in 1971, Hendrik van der Meerendonk also in 1971, Johannes Botman in 1981, and Jaap van den Herik in 1983.

Selected publications

* 1968. ''Voorzien en verzinnen''. Rotterdam : Universitaire Pers Rotterdam * 1969. ''Trio-logie: Variaties over een thema uit de bedrijfsleer''. With

Pierre Malotaux Pierre Charles-André Malotaux (28 April 1923 – 14 February 2016) was a Dutch organizational theorist, business consultant, and Professor of Business Administration at the Delft University of Technology. His is known with Jan in 't Veld for devel ...

and

Jan in 't Veld Jan in 't Veld (16 December 1925 – 27 January 2005) was a Dutch aerospace engineer and professor of industrial organization at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Technical University of Delft. In the Netherlands he was one of the pione ...

. * 1969. ''Operationele research in Nederland''. Het Spectrum. * 1970. ''Project planning by network analysis; proceedings of the second international congress Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 6–10 October 1969.'' H.J.M. Lombaers (ed.). * 1985. ''Daar moet je maar niet te hard op rekenen''. Delftse Universitaire Pers * 1985. ''Operations research : praktijk en theorie : symposium ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van prof. H.J.M. Lombaers gehouden op 6 juni 1985 te Delft.'' Wil Heins (ed.). Delftse Universitaire Pers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lombaers, Henk 1920 births 2007 deaths Dutch mathematicians Dutch operations researchers Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology People from Doorn Royal Netherlands Army personnel