EURO 50 Questions

One of the traditions of OR Society conferences is that there is a bar quiz. As EURO34 incorporated the 2025 UK conference and as there would not be a bar quiz, it was decided to create a EURO 50 years quiz. You will notice a slight UK bias, which results from the location and the setter. With huge thanks to Graham Rand, the following quiz was made available to the participants attending the 50th Anniversary conference in Leeds, UK. All questions/answers were correct at the time of the conference (June 2025).

The 50 questions to celebrate 50 years of EURO are grouped in different sections. The largest section concerns people who have made an impact during these 50 years. The other sections would not exist without their, and many others, dedication to the cause of promoting OR in Europe and bringing those involved together. Our grateful thanks go to them.

Founding

  1. What event led to the creation of EURO?
    Answer IFORS conference in Dublin, in 1972
  2. Which came first: the draft statutes of EURO or the first EURO conference?
    Answer The first conference (Jan 1975). The draft statutes were dated July 1975
  3. One of the two European societies which co-sponsored the first international conference at Oxford in 1957, did not support the first EURO conference financially nor sign an agreement to formalise closer cooperation among the European operational researchers. Which one?
    Answer France
  4. When were the definitive statutes and by-laws of EURO ratified?
    Answer June 1976

Membership

  1. Three EURO member societies are not wholly in Europe. Which are they?
    Answer Israel, South Africa and Tunisia
  2. Of the 31 national member societies listed on the EURO website, which was the latest to join IFORS, and therefore EURO?
    Answer Estonia 2011
  3. Which is the largest member society in terms of its membership, as recorded on the society link on the EURO website?
    Answer UK 4198
  4. Which other society has a membership over 1000, as recorded on the society link on the EURO website?
    Answer Germany 1113
  5. Which is the smallest member society in terms of its membership, as recorded on the society link on the EURO website?
    Answer Estonia 24
  6. Which other society has a membership under 30, as recorded on the society link on the EURO website?
    Answer Slovakia 28
  7. Which country in mainland Europe, other than Russia, which has a Baltic Sea coast, is not a member of EURO?
    Answer Latvia
  8. Which island country is a member of EURO?
    Answer Iceland
  9. Which letter of the English alphabet is the most frequent initial letter of the EURO members?
    Answer S (Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland)

Conferences

  1. The Leeds conference is being held in June. Since 1989 only one conference has been held within June. Which one?
    Answer 30th Dublin, June 2019
  2. Which country has hosted the conference most frequently?
    Answer UK, Scotland twice, England once
  3. Who has chaired a Programme Committee more than once?
    Answer Jakob Krarup (1979 Amsterdam, 2000 Budapest)
  4. Three people have chaired an Organising Committee and a Programme Committee. Who are they?
    Answer Jean-Pierre Brans (OC Brussels 1975, PC Cambridge1980), Hans-Jürgen Zimmermann (PC Brussels 1975, OC Hamburg 1991), Christer Carlsson (PC Vienna 1983, OC Helsinki 1992)
  5. Who is the only one person to chair an Organising Committee more than once?
    Answer Val Belton (Glasgow 1994 and 2015)
  6. What comes next in this sequence: Aachen, Helsinki, Glasgow, Jerusalem?
    Answer Barcelona (conference locations from 1991 to 1997)
  7. What is missing in this sequence of conferences: Lausanne (1982), Vienna (1983), Bologna (1985)?
    Answer Nothing, because there was an IFORS conference in 1984
  8. The 50th anniversary of EURO is being celebrated in Yorkshire and hosted by the OR Society. The first two OR Society conferences were held in Yorkshire. Where and when?
    Answer Harrogate, 1958 and 1959
  9. Where have other OR Society conferences been held in Yorkshire?
    Answer York (1978, 1993, 2004, 2008) and Sheffield (1988)

Publications

  1. When was EJOR first published?
    Answer 1977
  2. Who was the author of the first paper in EJOR?
    Answer Russ Ackoff
  3. Who have been the three editors of EJOR who are based in the UK?
    Answer Alan Mercer (1977-1999), Robert Dyson (2006-2020), Mike Yearworth (2021-)
  4. Who has been an EJOR editor since 1999 and co-ordinating editor since 2006?
    Answer Roman Słowiński (Poland)
  5. How many female editors of EJOR have there been?
    Answer None
  6. Which was the second EURO journal, and when was its first volume published?
    Answer The EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics 2012
  7. Who is the current editor-in-chief of The EURO Journal on Computational Optimization?
    Answer Immanuel Bomze (Austria)
  8. Who was the first editor-in chief of The EURO Journal on Decision Processes?
    Answer Ahti Salo (Finland)
  9. Which of the two co-editors of The EURO Advanced Tutorials on Operational Research was born in Antwerp?
    Answer Kenneth Sörensen

Instruments

  1. What was the theme of the European Summer Institute organised by Sally Brailsford in 2005?
    Answer OR in healthcare
  2. Have there been more European Winter Institutes than European Summer Institutes?
    Answer No
  3. What is the latest “Instrument” of EURO, introduced in 2024?
    Answer A EURO Online Seminar Series
  4. Which two EURO working groups celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2025?
    Answer Health Services and Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding
  5. Which “instrument” enables students to attend NATCOR courses in the UK?
    Answer EURO PhD schools

People

  1. Who was the first President of EURO?
    Answer Hans-Jürgen Zimmermann (Germany)
  2. Which two countries have provided the most Presidents?
    Answer Germany and the UK - 4 each
  3. Only one EURO President has not served the standard two-year term. Who was that, and for how long did they serve?
    Answer Hans-Jürgen Zimmermann (Germany) for 4 years
  4. Of the four UK Presidents of EURO, only one was not also at one time a President of the OR Society. Who was that?
    Answer Maurice Shutler
  5. Who was the 16th, and first female, President of EURO?
    Answer Martine Labbé (Belgium)
  6. She was followed by the 2nd female President, a former President of the OR Society. Who was that?
    Answer Val Belton (UK)
  7. One former President of the OR Society and editor of the Operational Research Quarterly served as secretary of EURO for six years. Who was that?
    Answer Roger Eddison
  8. One person from the UK has been treasurer of EURO. Who?
    Answer Ernest Field
  9. Which EURO Gold Medallist was imprisoned twice?
    Answer Egon Balas
  10. Two Gold Medallists were based in North America. One was the answer to the previous question. Who was the other?
    Answer Gilbert Laporte (2022)
  11. Who were the two Gold Medallists based in the UK, who are the only ones who had died by the time the award was made?
    Answer Martin Beale and Ailsa Land
  12. Who is the only non-European to be honoured with the EURO Distinguished Service Award?
    Answer Theodor Stewart (South Africa)
  13. Name the two people who have been President, Gold Medallist, received the EURO Distinguished Service Award and been chair of a conference Organising Committee?
    Answer Paolo Toth and Dominique de Werra
  14. Who is the only UK based person to have received the EURO Distinguished Service Award?
    Answer Maurice Shutler


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