Jonathan Vivian Rosenhead (born 21 September 1938)[1] is a British mathematician, operational researcher and Labour Party activist.[2]
Early life and career
editJonathan Rosenhead is the son of mathematician Louis Rosenhead.[1] He studied at St John's College, Cambridge, where he received a B.A. degree in mathematics in 1959.[2] He continued his studies at University College London where he received an M.Sc. degree in statistics in 1961, and an M.A. from Cambridge in 1963. He worked as an operational researcher at United Steel Companies in Sheffield in 1961-63 and at Science in General Management Ltd. (SIGMA) in Croydon in 1963-66 before returning to the academic world.
Academic career
editRosenhead spent 1966-67 at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and its Management Science Centre, where Russell L. Ackoff was professor. In 1967 he joined the London School of Economics as a lecturer in operational research. He became a senior lecturer in 1981 and professor of operational research in 1987.[2] He retired in 2003.
Within operational research (OR), Rosenhead is primarily associated with the development of "soft OR" from the late 1970s, which resulted in the development of a number of new OR methods. He was the editor of the first book to gather a number of problem structuring methods within one volume, Rational analysis for a problematic world, published in 1989.[3]
He was president of the Operational Research Society in 1986-87.
Political activism
editRosenhead was a Labour Party candidate for Kensington South at the 1966 general election.[2][4] His candidacy was endorsed by notable local residents, including playwright Keith Waterhouse, designer Misha Black, writer Baroness Stocks, architect Sir Hugh Casson, writer Brigid Brophy and novelist Lord Snow.[4] However, Rosenhead came a distant second to the Conservatives, who held the seat with a large majority.[5]
He was active in the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science over a 20-year period, including a stint as chair of the society. His political activities has included being chairman of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) and being information officer for Jewish Voice for Labour.
Rosenhead was involved in the campaign against South African apartheid. He was arrested at a May 1972 demonstration against the English rugby team which was departing for a tour in South Africa. He was convicted of a public order offence and fined. In 2020, Rosenhead learned that a fellow protester, who was also arrested at the demonstration, was an undercover police officer working in the Special Demonstration Squad.[6] The fact that the police had told neither the defence nor the court about the officer made the convictions a miscarriage of justice. Rosenhead and several others had their convictions quashed in 2023.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b J. T. Stuart (1986) Louis Rosenhead. 1 January 1906-10 November 1984, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 32: 407–420 doi:10.2307/770118
- ^ a b c d Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, The London School of Economics and Political Science, accessed 2019-10-25.
- ^ Rosenhead, Jonathan, ed. (1989). Rational analysis for a problematic world: problem structuring methods for complexity, uncertainty, and conflict. Chichester, UK; New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0471922858. OCLC 19847533.
- ^ a b "Famous Residents Support Rosenhead". The Kensington News and West London Times. 25 March 1966. p. 1. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ "Election Results". The Kensington News and West London Times. 8 April 1966. p. 6. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Evans, Rob (6 January 2020). "Man, 81, seeks to quash conviction for apartheid protest". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
- ^ "Anti-Apartheid protesters' historic convictions overturned by Crown Court". Criminal Cases Review Commission. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.