He realized that he had to solve a problem of maximizing a linear function on a convex polytope in order to increase equipment productivity for a plywood trust.  
He realized that he had to solve a problem of maximizing a linear function on a convex polytope in order to increase equipment productivity for a plywood trust.  That led him to create a general theory he called the "method of resolving multipliers," which he discussed in The Mathematical Method of Production Planning and Organization.  In a later work, 1959's The Best Use of Economic Resources, he showed that any economy has to use prices to efficiently allocate resources.  His research was paralleled by similar work carried out by the Dutch-born author of Three Essays on the State of Economic Science, with whom he shared a major award.  FTP, name this pioneer of linear programming, a Soviet economist who in 1975 shared the Nobel Prize with Tjalling Koopmans.
He realized that he had to solve a problem of maximizing a linear function on a convex polytope in order to increase equipment productivity for a plywood trust.  
Leonid Kantorovich