> None of the author's specific examples - control theory, optimization, linear programming, econometrics, or Black-Scholes - were pioneered by generalist engineers with a strong grounding in mathematics. They were just applied mathematicians (and in a few of those cases, repurposed pure mathematicians).

With regards to control theory, whilst some key people like Bode [0] had mathematics degrees, others such as Kalman [1], Nyquist [2], and Black [3] had electrical engineering degrees. Claude Shannon had a bachelor's degree in both electrical engineering and mathematics.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Wade_Bode

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_E._K%C3%A1lm%C3%A1n

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nyquist

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Stephen_Black