A structure for an intellectual history of operations research

The purpose of this paper is to offer one possible approach to a structure that could underlie an intellectual history of Operational Research OR. The paper begins with a view of some aspects of the early history of OR; then it sketches a philosophical structure for science, after which it relates the early history of Operational Research OR to this structure. The prospectus thus achieves offers a challenge: to relate this structure (or one akin to it) to the details of OR’s history, refining the structure in the process and drawing useful lessons that will inform OR’s present and future activities.