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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who specializes in

graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...

. 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, but also of learners ( ...

s on introductory graph theory and for the concept of a highly irregular graph.

Biography

Gary Chartrand was born in 1936. He was raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and attended J. W. Sexton High School located in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

. As an undergraduate student, he initially majored in

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

, but switched to mathematics in his junior year, in which he also became a member of the honorary mathematics society Pi Mu Epsilon. He earned his B.S. from

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

, 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 at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, where he spent a year as a Research Associate, and the two have published numerous papers together (along with other authors). The topic of highly irregular graphs was introduced by Chartrand, Paul Erdős and Ortrud Oellermann. Other contributions that Chartrand has made involve

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

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

in graphs, and

graph coloring In graph theory, graph coloring is a methodic assignment of labels traditionally called "colors" to elements of a Graph (discrete mathematics), graph. The assignment is subject to certain constraints, such as that no two adjacent elements have th ...

. 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 a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at Western Michigan University.

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 education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

. * 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 technol ...

. * 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, book ...

. * 2015: (with Arthur T. Benjamin 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 ...

. * 2019: (with Teresa W. Haynes, Michael A. Henning & Ping Zhang) ''From Domination to Coloring: Stephen Hedetniemi's Graph Theory and Beyond'', SpringerBriefs in Mathematics. * 2019: (with Cooroo Egan & Ping Zhang) ''How to Label a Graph'', SpringerBriefs in Mathematics . * 2021: (with Akbar Ali & Ping Zhang) ''Irregularity in Graphs'', SpringerBriefs in Mathematics .

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