Oskar Lange

Born July 27, 1904, in Tomaszów Mazo-wiecki; died Oct. 2, 1965, in London. Polish economist and political and public figure. Academician of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1952). Member of the Polish Socialist Party (1928–47). From 1948, member of the Polish United Workers’ Party and its Central Committee.

After graduating from the Jagellonian University in 1928, Lange continued his studies in the USA and Great Britain (1934–36). He was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1938 to 1945. Returning to his homeland in 1945, he served in the diplomatic corps until 1948. From 1952 to 1955 he was rector of the Main School of Planning and Statistics, and in 1956 he was appointed a professor at the University of Warsaw. He helped draw up economic development plans for India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, and Iraq, serving as an adviser on economic questions. His research on capitalist reproduction, the world economy, statistics, planning and management, and particularly the application of mathematics, cybernetics, and computers in economics is an important contribution to the development of economic science. Lange was awarded the State Prize of the Polish People’s Republic in 1955 and again in 1964.