Mehdi Behzad
| Mehdi Behzad | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Iran |
| Fields | Mathematics, Graph Theory |
| Thesis | (1965) |
Mehdi Behzad (Persian:مهدی بهزاد; born April 22, 1936) is a mathematician of Iranian origin specializing in graph theory. He introduced his total coloring theory (also known as "Behzad's conjecture" or "the total chromatic number conjecture"), which is regarded as one of the most beautiful conjectures in graph theory, during his Ph.D. studies in 1965. Despite active work on this problem during the last 50 years, including publication of several books and dissertations as well as hundreds of papers, this conjecture remains as challenging as it is open. In fact, Behzad's conjecture now belongs to mathematics’ classic open problems.
Behzad has been instrumental in institutionalizing mathematics education and popularization of mathematics in Iran, and has received numerous awards and recognition for his lifetime service to the Iranian scientific community.
Behzad is the coauthor of two text books on graph theory published in 1972 and 1979 in the U.S., which were among the key references on this new field of mathematics. He has been one of the direct collaborators of Paul Erdős.
Behzad was the first faculty member of Sharif University of Technology (Persian:دانشگاه صنعتی شریف), formerly Arya-Mehr University of Technology (Persian: دانشگاه صنعتی آریامهر), who was promoted to full professor in this institution. He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Michigan State University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the academic year 1974–75, where his research was supported by U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He has taught courses in several universities in the United States and Iran. Although in 1981, he decided to retire as a university professor at the age of 45, he has continued to serve the Iranian scientific community in different capacities.
Behzad has significantly contributed to institutionalizing and advancement of basic sciences in his home country of Iran. In recognition of his executive contributions in the last 50 years, the Iranian Mathematical Society (Persian: انجمن رياضى ايران) has established the Dr. Mehdi Behzad’s Award (Persian: جایزهی دکتر مهدی بهزاد), an annual multinational award for individuals with outstanding leadership role in advancement of mathematics in their respective countries.
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