The foundation of operations research is mostly cited to studies and applications in the U.S. Army right before The World War II. However, Leonid V. Kantorovich is recognized as the first to explore this area. In 1939, Kantorovich published a paper on a method for a production plan which he claimed to be the optimal way. This study included a linear program without a systematic solution. The systematic solution which is called “simplex algorithm” was later introduced by George B. Dantzig, who had planning experience in the U.S. Army Air Force.

As also understood from the information given, the correct answer is B.

Information about the other names in the options:

Tjalling C. Koopmans, who built a model for ship routes, was another contributor to the field. He and Kantorovich shared 1975 Nobel Prize in economics for their studies on the optimal allocation of resources.

Industrial applications of linear programming Stemmed from the oil industry after William W. Cooper and his colleagues’ publications about the efficient blending of aviation fuels. As the computational ability of the solver systems advanced rapidly, operations research started to be used widely.

Sometime in the midst of the last century, Chester Barnard, a retired telephone executive and author of The Functions of the Executive, imported the term “decision making” from the lexicon of public administration into the business world.