Mathematician
Paul Erdos
PAWL AIR-dosh (Hungarian Erdos, the o carrying a double acute accent)
Modern
Hungarian mathematician, one of the most prolific in history with more than 1,500 published papers across number theory, combinatorics, graph theory and probability, most of them written jointly with one or more of over 500 different collaborators (the playful measure of collaborative distance from him, the Erdos number, is still used among mathematicians today). He lived an itinerant life with almost no permanent home or possessions, travelling between colleagues' houses and mathematical conferences with a single suitcase, arriving to announce his mind was open, and pioneered the probabilistic method, using probability theory to prove the existence of mathematical objects that are extremely difficult to construct explicitly.
Facts
BirthplaceBudapest, Kingdom of Hungary 2 Death PlaceWarsaw, Poland, of a heart attack while attending a mathematics conference 2 Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionPioneered the probabilistic method in combinatorics; foundational results across number theory and graph theory produced through an unmatched breadth of collaboration. 2 Notable WorkOn the Evolution of Random Graphs (with Alfred Renyi, 1960) 2 Connections
Associated With
Source Paul Erdos (1913-1996), Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Frequent collaborator; co-poser of the Erdos-Straus conjecture.
Source Ernst G. Straus (Wikipedia)
Conjectures Posed
Source Erdos-Straus Conjecture (Wikipedia)
In Branch
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Proofs Credited
Source De Bruijn-Erdos theorem (graph theory) (Wikipedia)
Source Erdos-Posa theorem (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Paul Erdos
WikipediaLead section, gender referenceQuote, Lead section, gender reference
He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century.
2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and StatisticsIn Branch: CombinatoricsView the Source Paul Erdos (1913-1996), Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St AndrewsAssociated With: Combinatorics, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Erdos/Quote, Associated With: Combinatorics, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Erdos/
founded the field of discrete mathematics
Ernst G. Straus (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: Ernst G. Straus, BiographyQuote, Associated With: Ernst G. Straus, Biography
One of his best known contributions in popular mathematics is the Erdős-Straus conjecture that every number of the form 4/n has a three-term Egyptian fraction.
Erdos-Straus Conjecture (Wikipedia)
WikipediaConjectures Posed: Erdos-Straus Conjecture, Background and historyQuote, Conjectures Posed: Erdos-Straus Conjecture, Background and history
The Erdős-Straus conjecture was formulated in 1948 by Paul Erdős and Ernst G.
De Bruijn-Erdos theorem (graph theory) (Wikipedia)
Proofs Credited: De Bruijn-Erdos Theorem (Graph Theory), LeadQuote, Proofs Credited: De Bruijn-Erdos Theorem (Graph Theory), Lead
The theorem was proved by Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn and Paul Erdős, after whom it is named.
Erdos-Posa theorem (Wikipedia)
Proofs Credited: Erdos-Posa Theorem, Lead sectionQuote, Proofs Credited: Erdos-Posa Theorem, Lead section
named after Paul Erdős and Lajos Pósa
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