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Melvin Dresher

Melvin Dresher (born Dreszer; March 13, 1911 – June 4, 1992) was a Polish-born American mathematician, notable for developing, with Merrill Flood, the game theoretical model of cooperation and conflict known as the Prisoner's dilemma while at RAND in 1950 (Albert W. Tucker gave the game its prison-sentence interpretation, and thus the name by which it is known today).[1][2]

Melvin Dresher

(1911-03-13)March 13, 1911

Krasnystaw, Poland

June 4, 1992(1992-06-04) (aged 81)

Kern, California, US

Lehigh University
Yale University

Prisoner's dilemma

Mathematics

Michigan State College
War Production Board
National Defense Research Committee
Catholic University of America
RAND

Øystein Ore

Family[edit]

Dresher married Martha Whitaker (m. 1937) and is survived by his daughter Olivia Dresher (b. 1945)[4] and son Paul Dresher (b. 1951).

Bohnenblust, H.; Dresher, Melvin; ; Harris, Theodore; Helmer-Hirschberg, Olaf; McKinsey, J.; Shapley, Lloyd; Snow, R. (1948). Mathematical Theory of Zero-Sum Two-Person Games with a Finite Number or a Continuum of Strategies. RAND Corporation. doi:10.7249/r115.

Girshick, M.

Berge, Claude; Dresher, Melvin, eds. (1970). Contributions to the theory of games. 3: C. Berge ... Ed. by M. Dresher. Annals of mathematics studies (4. print ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Pr.  978-0-691-07936-3.

ISBN

Dresher, Melvin (1981). The mathematics of games of strategy: theory and applications (unabridged republ. of the [ed.] ... Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1961 ed.). New York: Dover.  978-0-486-64216-1.

ISBN

Dresher, M.; Aumann, R. J., eds. (1985). Advances in game theory. Annals of mathematics studies (Repr. from the hardcover ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.  978-0-691-07902-8.

ISBN

Dresher, Melvin (2007). Games of strategy: theory and applications (New RAND ed.). Santa Monica, Calif: RAND Corp.  978-0-8330-4225-5.

ISBN

Obituary, July 2, 1992 issue of the Palisadian-Post newspaper (Pacific Palisades, California).

"In Remembrance", July 9, 1992 issue of RAND Items (a biweekly publication for employees of RAND).