How a new mathematical field grew and matured in America
Graph Theory in America focuses on the development of graph theory in
North America from 1876 to 1976. At the beginning of this period, James
Joseph Sylvester, perhaps the finest mathematician in the
English-speaking world, took up his appointment as the first professor
of mathematics at the Johns Hopkins University, where his inaugural
lecture outlined connections between graph theory, algebra, and
chemistry--shortly after, he introduced the word graph in our modern
sense. A hundred years later, in 1976, graph theory witnessed the
solution of the long-standing four color problem by Kenneth Appel and
Wolfgang Haken of the University of Illinois.
Tracing graph theory's trajectory across its first century, this book
looks at influential figures in the field, both familiar and less known.
Whereas many of the featured mathematicians spent their entire careers
working on problems in graph theory, a few such as Hassler Whitney
started there and then moved to work in other areas. Others, such as C.
S. Peirce, Oswald Veblen, and George Birkhoff, made excursions into
graph theory while continuing their focus elsewhere. Between the main
chapters, the book provides short contextual interludes, describing how
the American university system developed and how graph theory was
progressing in Europe. Brief summaries of specific publications that
influenced the subject's development are also included.
Graph Theory in America tells how a remarkable area of mathematics
landed on American soil, took root, and flourished.
