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Mathematician

Francis Guthrie

Modern

British mathematician and botanist who, while coloring a map of the counties of England around 1852 as a student at University College London, noticed that four colors always seemed to suffice so that no two adjoining counties shared a color, and conjectured this held for every map. His younger brother Frederick, then a student of Augustus De Morgan, brought the conjecture and an unsatisfactory attempted proof to De Morgan's attention, beginning the four color problem's long history. After training as a barrister, Guthrie emigrated to South Africa in 1861 and worked there as a mathematician and botanist.

Facts
Birth Date
1831-01-22 2
Birth Year
1831 1
Death Date
1899-10-19 2
Death Year
1899 1
Birthplace
London, England 2
Death Place
Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa 2
Nationality / Culture
British, later South African 2
Defining Contribution
Posed the four color conjecture around 1852 while coloring a map of the counties of England, the origin of what became the four color theorem. 2
Notable Work
First posed the Four Colour Conjecture in 1852 while coloring a map of the counties of England. 1
Biography
Gender
Male 1
Connections

Conjectures Posed

Four Color Theorem, Theorems
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

In Branch

Topology, Branches of Mathematics
In the Other Atlases

Nationality

South Africa

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Source Francis Guthrie (Wikipedia)tier 2
Sources
1. Francis Guthrie (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • opening sentence
    Francis Guthrie (born 22 January 1831 in London; d. 19 October 1899 in Claremont, Cape Town) was a Cape Colony mathematician and botanist who first posed the Four Colour Problem in 1852.
  • opening/Life section
    While colouring a map of the counties of England, he noticed that at least four colours were required so that no two regions sharing a common border were the same colour.
  • Lead section, gender reference
    He studied mathematics under Augustus De Morgan, and botany under John Lindley at University College London.
View the Source
2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statisticshttps://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/The_four_colour_theorem/
Quote, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/The_four_colour_theorem/
Francis Guthrie showed his brother some results he had been trying to prove about the colouring of maps and asked Frederick to ask De Morgan about them.
View the Source

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