Swords into ploughshares: Cecil Gordon's role in the post-war transition of operational research to civilian uses
Operational research, having developed in Britain as a contribution by scientists and the scientific approach to Second World War military planning, became a significant element in the process of post-war reconstruction. Cecil Gordon, a leading wartime operational researcher, headed the principal civilian government OR unit at the Board of Trade. He was also a key member of the Working Party of the Committee on Industrial Productivity, which attempted to promote the wider adoption of operational research. These enterprises were consistent with his socialist commitment, in many ways typical of a generation of Left scientists and of many pioneers of operational research. The article describes and analyuses th