Peter C. Fishburn

{{Short description|American mathematician (1936–2021)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Peter C. Fishburn

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|09|02|df=y}}

| birth_place = Philipsburg, Pennsylvania

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|06|10|1936|09|02|df=y}}

| death_place = Racine, Wisconsin

| nationality = American

| field = Decision Theory

| work_institutions = AT&T Bell Laboratories

| alma_mater = Pennsylvania State University (M.S.)
Case Institute of Technology (Ph. D)

| religion =

| thesis_year = 1962

| thesis_title = A Normative Theory of Decisions under Risk

| thesis_url =

| doctoral_advisor = Russell Ackoff

| doctoral_students =

| influences =

| influenced =

| known_for = Decision Theory

| prizes = John von Neumann Theory Prize (1996)
Decision Analysis Publication Award
Frank P. Ramsey Medal

}}

Peter Clingerman Fishburn (September 2, 1936 – June 10, 2021) was an American mathematician, known as a pioneer in the field of decision theory. In collaboration with Steven Brams, Fishburn published a paper about approval voting in 1978.{{Cite journal |last1=Brams |first1=Steven J. |last2=Fishburn |first2=Peter C. |date=September 1978 |title=Approval Voting |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/approval-voting/7CE5DEEE235794B0B12F76ADAE621482 |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=831–847 |doi=10.2307/1955105 |jstor=1955105 |s2cid=251092061 |issn=0003-0554}}

Biography

=Intellectual=

Fishburn received his B.S. in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1958, his M.S. in operations research in 1961, and a Ph.D. in operations research in 1962, the latter two from the Case Institute of Technology.

In collaboration with Steven Brams, Fishburn published a paper about approval voting in 1978. In 1996, he won the John von Neumann Theory Prize. He also won the Decision Analysis Publication Award in 1991{{cite web |url=https://www.informs.org/Recognize-Excellence/Community-Prizes-and-Awards/Decision-Analysis-Society/Decision-Analysis-Publication-Award |title=Decision Analysis Publication Award - INFORMS |website=www.informs.org |access-date=19 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912104524/https://www.informs.org/Recognize-Excellence/Community-Prizes-and-Awards/Decision-Analysis-Society/Decision-Analysis-Publication-Award |archive-date=12 September 2015 |url-status=dead}} and the Frank P. Ramsey Medal in 1987.{{cite web|title=Peter C. Fishburn|url=http://www.informs.org/Recognize-Excellence/Award-Recipients/Peter-C.-Fishburn|publisher=Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences|access-date=2012-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905080712/http://www.informs.org/Recognize-Excellence/Award-Recipients/Peter-C.-Fishburn|archive-date=2012-09-05|url-status=dead}}

He was elected to the 2002 class of Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.{{citation|url=https://www.informs.org/Recognizing-Excellence/Fellows/Fellows-Alphabetical-List|title=Fellows: Alphabetical List|publisher=Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences|access-date=2019-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510220119/https://www.informs.org/Recognizing-Excellence/Fellows/Fellows-Alphabetical-List|archive-date=2019-05-10|url-status=dead}}

=Personal=

Fishburn retired after many years of research at AT&T Bell Laboratories in the state of New Jersey, United States. He was married to the theologian Janet Forsythe Fishburn. He died on June 10, 2021, in Racine, Wisconsin.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/centredaily/obituary.aspx?n=peter-clingerman-fishburn&pid=199009461|title = Peter Clingerman Fishburn Obituary (1936–2021) Centre Daily Times|website = Legacy.com}}

See also

References

  • Brams, Steven J., and Fishburn, Peter C. (1983), Approval Voting. Boston: Birkhäuser. Second edition (2007). New York: Springer.
  • Fishburn, P.C. (1964), Decision and Value Theory. Publications in Operations Research, No. 10. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
  • Fishburn, P.C. (1970), Utility Theory for Decision Making. Publications in Operations Research, No. 18. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
  • Fishburn, Peter C. (1972), Mathematics of Decision Theory. Methods and Models in the Social Sciences, 3. The Hague: Mouton.
  • Fishburn, Peter C. (1973), The Theory of Social Choice. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press.
  • Fishburn, Peter C. (1982), The Foundations of Expected Utility. Theory and Decision Library, Vol. 31. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
  • {{cite book|last=Fishburn|first=Peter C.|year=1985|title=Interval Orders and Interval Graphs: A Study of Partially Ordered Sets|series=Wiley-Interscience Series in Discrete Mathematics|location=New York|publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}
  • Fishburn, Peter C. (1988), Nonlinear Preference and Utility Theory. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Notes

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