Gary Theodore Chartrand (born 1936) is an American-born

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who specializes in

graph theory In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conne ...

. He is known for his

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s on introductory graph theory and for the concept of a

highly irregular graph In graph theory, a highly irregular graph is a graph in which, for every vertex, all neighbors of that vertex have distinct degrees. History Irregular graphs were initially characterized by Yousef Alavi, Gary Chartrand, Fan Chung, Paul Erdős, R ...

Biography

Gary Chartrand was born in 1936. He was raised in

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is the only city in, and county seat of, Chippewa County, Michigan, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most populated ...

and attended

J. W. Sexton High School J. W. Sexton High School is a public school located on the western edge of Lansing, Michigan, United States, in the Lansing School District. The principal is currently Daniel Boggan. The Sexton J-Dubbs are members of the Capital Area Activit ...

located in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

. As an undergraduate student, he initially majored in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

, but switched to mathematics in his junior year, in which he also became a member of the honorary mathematics society

Pi Mu Epsilon Pi Mu Epsilon ( or ) is the U.S. honorary national mathematics society. The society was founded at Syracuse University on , by Professor Edward Drake Roe, Jr, and currently has chapters at 371 institutions across the US. Goals Pi Mu Epsilon is d ...

. He earned his B. S. from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, where he majored in mathematics and minored in physical sciences and foreign languages. Michigan State University also awarded him a Master of Science and a PhD for his work in graph theory in 1964. Chartrand became the first doctoral student of Edward Nordhaus, and the first doctoral student at Michigan State University to research graph theory. His dissertation was ''Graphs and Their Associated Line-Graphs''. Chartrand worked with

Frank Harary Frank Harary (March 11, 1921 – January 4, 2005) was an American mathematician, who specialized in graph theory. He was widely recognized as one of the "fathers" of modern graph theory. Harary was a master of clear exposition and, together with ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where he spent a year as a Research Associate, and the two have published numerous papers together (along with other authors). The topic of

s was introduced by Chartrand,

Paul Erdős Paul Erdős ( hu, Erdős Pál ; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. pursued and proposed problems in ...

and

Ortrud Oellermann Ortrud R. Oellermann is a South African mathematician specializing in graph theory. She is a professor of mathematics at the University of Winnipeg. Education and career Oellermann was born in Vryheid. She earned a bachelor's degree, ''cum laude ...

. Other contributions that Chartrand has made involve

dominating set In graph theory, a dominating set for a graph is a subset of its vertices, such that any vertex of is either in , or has a neighbor in . The domination number is the number of vertices in a smallest dominating set for . The dominating set ...

distance Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects or points are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). ...

in graphs, and

graph coloring In graph theory, graph coloring is a special case of graph labeling; it is an assignment of labels traditionally called "colors" to elements of a graph subject to certain constraints. In its simplest form, it is a way of coloring the vertices o ...

. During his career at Western Michigan University, he advised 22 doctoral students in their research on aspects of graph theory. Chartrand is currently a professor emeritus of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

Books

* 1977: ''Graphs as Mathematical Models'', Prindle, Weber & Schmidt, reprinted 1985 as ''Introductory Graph Theory'' . * 1993: (with Ortrud R. Oellermann) ''Applied and Algorithmic Graph Theory'',

McGraw Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

. * 2008: (with Ping Zhang) ''Chromatic Graph Theory'',

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information tec ...

. * 2010: (with Linda Lesniak and Ping Zhang) ''Graphs & Digraphs'', 5th edition, CRC Press . * 2010: (with Ping Zhang) ''Discrete Mathematics'', Waveland Press. * 2012: (with Albert D. Polimeni & Ping Zhang) ''Mathematical Proofs: A Transition to Advanced Mathematics'', 3rd edition, Pearson. * 2012: (with Ping Zhang) ''A First Course in Graph Theory'',

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

. * 2015: (with

Arthur T. Benjamin Arthur T. Benjamin (born March 19, 1961) is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, where he is the Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics. He is ...

and Ping Zhang) ''The Fascinating World of Graph Theory'',

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

References

External links

Chartrand's web page
at Western Michigan University * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chartrand, Gary Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Graph theorists Michigan State University alumni Western Michigan University faculty 1936 births