Delbert Ray Fulkerson (; August 14, 1924 – January 10, 1976) was an American
mathematician who co-developed the
FordFulkerson algorithm, one of the most well-known
algorithms to solve the
maximum flow problem in
networks.
Early life and education
D. R. Fulkerson was born in
Tamms, Illinois
Tamms is a village in Alexander County, Illinois, United States. The population was 430 at the 2020 census, down from 632 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Tamms w ...
, the third of six children of Elbert and Emma Fulkerson. Fulkerson became an undergraduate at
Southern Illinois University. His academic career was interrupted by military service during
World War II. Having returned to complete his degree after the war, he went on to do a
Ph.D. in mathematics at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison under the supervision of
Cyrus MacDuffee, who was a student of
L. E. Dickson
Leonard Eugene Dickson (January 22, 1874 – January 17, 1954) was an American mathematician. He was one of the first American researchers in abstract algebra, in particular the theory of finite fields and classical groups, and is also remem ...
. Fulkerson received his Ph.D. in 1951.
Career
After graduation, Fulkerson joined the mathematics department at the
RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
. In 1956, he and
L. R. Ford Jr.
Lester Randolph Ford Jr. (September 23, 1927 – February 26, 2017) was an American mathematician specializing in network flow problems. He was the son of mathematician Lester R. Ford Sr.
Ford's paper with D. R. Fulkerson on the maximum flow p ...
described the
Ford–Fulkerson algorithm. In 1962 they produced a book-length description of their method.
In 1971 he moved to
Cornell University as the Maxwell Upson Professor of Engineering. He was diagnosed with
Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension ...
and was limited in his teaching. In despair, he committed suicide in 1976.
Fulkerson was the supervisor of
Jon Folkman at RAND and
Tatsuo Oyama
Tatsuo (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese actor
*, Japanese engineer
*Tatsuo Fukuda (福田達夫, born 1967), Japanese politician
*, Japanese swi ...
at
GRIPS
The , or GRIPS, is an elite, highly selective research graduate school located in Minato, Tokyo. Funded by the Japanese Government, it has the status of List of national universities in Japan, national university. It is also one of Asia's leading ...
. After Folkman committed suicide in 1969, Fulkerson blamed himself for failing to notice Folkman's suicidal behaviors.
[.]
In 1979, the renowned
Fulkerson Prize was established which is now awarded every three years for outstanding papers in
discrete mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous f ...
jointly by the
Mathematical Programming Society and the
American Mathematical Society.
See also
*
Out-of-kilter algorithm
*
List of people diagnosed with Crohn's disease
The following is a list of notable people diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms. I ...
References
External links
Delbert Ray Fulkerson prizeFulkerson biography at Cornell
*
Biography of D. R. Fulkerson
from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulkerson, D. R.
20th-century American mathematicians
Combinatorialists
1924 births
1976 suicides
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
RAND Corporation people
People from Alexander County, Illinois
Mathematicians from Illinois
1976 deaths
People with Crohn's disease
Suicides in New York (state)