Percy John Heawood (8 September 1861 – 24 January 1955) was a British

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 concentrated on graph colouring.

Life

He was the son of the Rev. John Richard Heawood of

Newport, Shropshire Newport is a constituent market town in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It lies north of Telford, west of Stafford, and is near the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. The 2001 census recorded 10,814 people living in the town's paris ...

, and his wife Emily Heath, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Heath of

Wigmore, Herefordshire Wigmore is a village and civil parish in the northwest part of the county of Herefordshire, England. It is located on the A4110 road, about west of the town of Ludlow, in the Welsh Marches. In earlier times, it was also an administrative dist ...

; and a first cousin of

Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Hertz's proof and at his ...

, whose mother Grace was also a daughter of Joseph Heath. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, and matriculated at

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

in 1880, graduating B.A. in 1883 and M.A. in 1887. Heawood spent his academic career at Durham University, where he was appointed Lecturer in 1885. He was, successively, Censor of

St Cuthbert's Society St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, based on Durham's peninsula next ...

between 1897 and 1901 succeeding Frank Byron Jevons in the role, Senior Proctor of the university from 1901, Professor in 1910 and

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

between 1926 and 1928. He was awarded an OBE, as Honorary Secretary of the Preservation Fund, for his part in raising £120,000 to prevent

Durham Castle Durham Castle is a Norman castle in the city of Durham, England, which has been occupied since 1837 by University College, Durham after its previous role as the residence of the Bishops of Durham. Designated since 1986 as a cultural World Heri ...

from collapsing into the River Wear. Heawood was fond of country pursuits, and one of his interests was

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. His nickname was "Pussy". Durham University awards an annual Heawood Prize to a student graduating in Mathematics whose performance is outstanding in the final year.

Works

Heawood devoted himself to the

four colour theorem In mathematics, the four color theorem, or the four color map theorem, states that no more than four colors are required to color the regions of any map so that no two adjacent regions have the same color. ''Adjacent'' means that two regions sha ...

and related questions. In 1890 he exposed a flaw in Alfred Kempe's proof, that had been considered as valid for 11 years. The four colour theorem being an open question again, he established the weaker five colour theorem. The four colour theorem itself was finally established by a computer-based proof in 1976. Heawood also studied colouring of maps on higher surfaces and established the upper bound on the chromatic number of such a graph in terms of the connectivity (genus, or number of handles) of the surface. This upper bound was proved only in 1968 to be the actual maximum. Writing in the Journal of the London Mathematical Society, G. A. Dirac wrote:

Family

Heawood married in 1890 Christiana Tristram, daughter of

Henry Baker Tristram Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution and creation. Biogra ...

; they had a son and a daughter.

References

External links

MacTutor biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heawood, Percy John 1861 births 1955 deaths Newport, Shropshire 19th-century British mathematicians 20th-century British mathematicians People from Newport, Shropshire Combinatorialists Academics of Durham University Vice-Chancellors and Wardens of Durham University Officers of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing

Life

Works

Family

See also

References

External links