Percy John Heawood was a British mathematician who concentrated on graph colouring. Born in 1861, he studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and spent his academic career at Durham University, where he became lecturer in 1885, professor in 1910 and Vice-Chancellor from 1926 to 1928. In 1890 he exposed a flaw in Alfred Kempe's proof of the four colour theorem, which had been considered valid for eleven years, and established the weaker five colour theorem. He also studied colouring of maps on higher surfaces, and was awarded an OBE for his part in raising funds to save Durham Castle.
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Percy John Heawood
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Source Heawood Graph (Wikipedia)
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Source Wikipedia: Percy John Heawood
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Source Five color theorem (Wikipedia)
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1. Wikipedia: Percy John Heawood
Five color theorem (Wikipedia)
Proofs Credited: Five Color Theorem, Lead sentence, attributionQuote, Proofs Credited: Five Color Theorem, Lead sentence, attribution
first proved by Percy John Heawood in 1890
Heawood Graph (Wikipedia)
Attributed Works: Heawood Graph, LeadQuote, Attributed Works: Heawood Graph, Lead
The map and graph were discovered by Percy John Heawood in 1890, who proved that no map on the torus could require more than seven colors and thus this map is maximal.
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