T. O. Engset

Who was T. O. Engset?

Tore Olaus Engset was a Norwegian mathematician and engineer who did pioneering work in the field of telephone traffic queuing theory.

Tore Olaus Engset was born 8 May 1865 in the county of Sunnmøre in western Norway. After he graduated school at the age of 18, Engset was admitted to the telegraph school in Stavanger in 1883, a decisive career move. He received his certificate in a year and took employment. In his spare time he continued his studies, graduating in 1892 but continuing his university studies. Engset received a M.Sc. in physics and mathematics at University of Oslo, after which he worked at Televerket as office worker, traffic analyst and later at age 65 director general.

He developed the Engset formula before the breakthroughs of A. K. Erlang. His 1915 manuscript "Om beregningen av vælgere i et automatisk telefonsystem" was not, however, published until 1918. That work was translated to German as "Die Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung zur Bestimmung der Wählerzahl in automatischen Fernsprechämtern", in Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, Heft 31, 1918. An English translation appeared in Arne Myskja, "On the Calculation of Switches in an Automatic Telephone System" in Telektronikk, 94:99-142, 1998.