Leon Steinberg ’55 ScM

Leon Steinberg ’55 ScM, of Memphis; Dec. 17. After graduating from Brown, he joined the University of Pennsylvania as a teaching assistant. In 1961, he earned his PhD in number theory at Penn. In 1957, he joined the Univac division of Sperry Rand and in 1961 published The Backboard Wiring Problem: A Placement Algorithm, a quadratic assignment problem known as “The Steinberg Wiring Problem” or “ste36a.” Ste36a was based on the design of a Univac computer and analyzed how to wire together 34 computer components on a 9 by 4 grid using the shortest possible wiring scheme. His algorithms produced a reasonable, but not exact, solution that Univac used at the time. Ste36a became a legendary challenge problem in computational optimization and efforts to solve it resulted in algorithmic advances applicable to the design of computer chips and present-day project management and scheduling software. In 2001, a professor at the University of Iowa and researcher at Microsoft Corp. finally solved ste36a, making it one of the longest open problems in computational optimization. Steinberg remained at Sperry Univac in various capacities until 1986. He enjoyed travel and classical music. He is survived by his wife, Marcia; a daughter; and a sister.