Theodore Samuel Motzkin (26 March 1908 – 15 December 1970) was an Israeli-American mathematician.
He pursued university studies in the topic and was accepted as a graduate student by Leopold Kronecker, but left the field to work for the Zionist movement before finishing a dissertation.
[2] Motzkin grew up in Berlin and started studying mathematics at an early age as well, entering university when he was only 15.
[2] He received his Ph.D. in 1934 from the University of Basel under the supervision of Alexander Ostrowski[3] for a thesis on the subject of linear programming[2] (Beiträge zur Theorie der linearen Ungleichungen, "Contributions to the Theory of Linear Inequalities", 1936[4]).
He would continue to play an important role in the development of LP while at UCLA.
He first developed the "double description" algorithm of polyhedral combinatorics and computational geometry.
[8] The quote "complete disorder is impossible," describing Ramsey theory, is attributed to him.