Operations Research — what, when and how

Scope, Examples, and Careers

The (somewhat vague) term “Operations Research” was coined during World War I. The British military brought together a group of scientists to allocate insufficient resources — for example, food, medics, weapons, troops, etc. — in the most effective way possible to different military operations. So the term “operations” is from “military operations”. Successfully conducting military operations was a huge deal and Operations Research (OR) became its own academic discipline in universities in the 40s.