ReVelle, Charles S. 1938–2005

(Charles Seymour ReVelle)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born March 26, 1938, in Rochester, NY; died of lymphoma, August 10, 2005, in Baltimore, MD. Environmental engineer, systems analyst, educator, and author. ReVelle was a Johns Hopkins University professor who specialized in creating mathematical models for development planning and natural resources management. His bachelor's degree from Cornell University, earned in 1961, was in chemistry; he then completed a Ph.D. in sanitary engineering in 1967 with a doctoral thesis on how best to allocate medicines in developing countries plagued by tuberculosis. ReVelle taught at Cornell for three years before joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1970. In 1975 he was promoted to professor of systems analysis and economics for public decision-making at the university's department of geography and environmental engineering. Over the years ReVelle developed algorithms that would help engineers and designers plan for a variety of projects. These mathematical models related to such diverse projects as hospital development, power grids, nature preserves, tree harvesting, and sewage-treatment plants, to name a few. He was also the coauthor of several college textbooks, including The Environment: Issues and Choices for Society (1981) and Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering (1997). In recognition of his work, ReVelle earned such honors as the Agamemnon Award from the Constantine Porphyrogenitus Association of Greece in 1995 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Location Analysis from the Section on Location Analysis of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science in 1996.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Grand Rapids Press, August 26, 2005, p. B7.

New York Times, August 25, 2005, p. C17.

ONLINE

Johns Hopkins University Gazette Online, http://www.jhu.edu/∼gazette/ (August 22, 2005).