ideas were broadly applicable to problems in decision making under uncertainty. He was a pioneer in the practical assessment of subjective probabilities and utilities… (Schlaifer) influenced my intellectual development more than any other individual — more than Abraham Wald or von Neumann or Savage or Arrow.” In the preface to the second 1971 edition of Foundations of Statistics Savage wrote: This is a welcome opportunity to say that his [Schlaifer's] ideas were developed wholly independently of the present book, and indeed of other personalistic literature. They are in full harmony with the ideas of this book but are more down to earth and less spellbound by tradition. Schlaifer's book with John W. Pratt and Raiffa was published posthumously and his co-authors wrote this dedication: Robert O. Schlaifer (1915–1994): An original, deep, creative, indefatigable, persistent, versatile, demanding, sometimes irascible scholar, who was an inspiration to us both. Role in development of aircraft engines & fuels Schlaifer was involved in the development of military aircraft engines and fuels prior to World War II. He found that the best way to get a good engine quickly was to bring to test as soon as possible a number of alternate designs, pick one that combined good characteristics with few development problems, and then work intensely to develop it. Some publications of Robert Schlaifer Greek Theories of Slavery from Homer to Aristotle, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 47 (1936), pp. 165–204. Demon of Paeania, Priest of Asclepius, Classical Philology, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 39–43. Development of Aircraft Engines. Boston : Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1950. Probability and statistics for business decisions. An introduction to managerial economics under uncertainty New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1959 Applied statistical decision theory (with Howard Raiffa) Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1961. Introduction to statistical decision theory John W. Pratt, Howard Raiffa, Robert Schlaifer preliminary edition, 1965. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995. Analysis of decisions under uncertainty. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1969. References External links The award of the Frank P. Ramsey Medal of the Decision Analysis Society is described in the newsletter August 1992 Newsletter New York Times obituary Stephen E. Fienberg "The Early Statistical Years: 1947–1967. A Conversation With Howard Raiffa" Statistical Science, 23, (2008), 136-149. 1914 births 1994 deaths American statisticians Bayesian statisticians Harvard Business School faculty Bayesian econometricians Harvard University alumni 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American