Claude Berge
Encyclopedia
Claude Berge was a French
mathematician
, recognized as one of the modern founders of combinatorics
and graph theory
. He is particularly remembered for his famous conjectures on perfect graph
s and for Berge's lemma
, which states that a matching M in a graph G is maximum if and only if there is in G no augmenting path with respect to M. He wrote five books, on game theory
(1957), graph theory and its applications (1958), topological space
s (1959), principles of combinatorics (1968) and hypergraph
s (1970), each being translated in several languages and becoming a classic.
Berge co-founded the French literary group Oulipo
with novelists and other mathematicians in 1960 to create new forms of literature.
In this association, he wrote a murder mystery based on a mathematical theorem: Who killed the Duke of Densmore?
He received the EURO X gold medal from the European Association of Operational Research in 1989 and the Euler Prize in 1995.
He was at the Centre d'Analyse et de Mathématique Sociales (CAMS), a research center of École des hautes études en sciences sociales
. He was also a visiting professor at Princeton University
(1957), New York University
(1985) and a frequent visitor to the Indian statistical institute
, Calcutta.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, recognized as one of the modern founders of combinatorics
Combinatorics
Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...
and graph theory
Graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...
. He is particularly remembered for his famous conjectures on perfect graph
Perfect graph
In graph theory, a perfect graph is a graph in which the chromatic number of every induced subgraph equals the size of the largest clique of that subgraph....
s and for Berge's lemma
Berge's lemma
In graph theory, Berge's lemma states that a matching M in a graph G is maximum if and only if there is no augmenting path with M.It was proven by French mathematician Claude Berge in 1957.- Proof...
, which states that a matching M in a graph G is maximum if and only if there is in G no augmenting path with respect to M. He wrote five books, on game theory
Game theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
(1957), graph theory and its applications (1958), topological space
Topological space
Topological spaces are mathematical structures that allow the formal definition of concepts such as convergence, connectedness, and continuity. They appear in virtually every branch of modern mathematics and are a central unifying notion...
s (1959), principles of combinatorics (1968) and hypergraph
Hypergraph
In mathematics, a hypergraph is a generalization of a graph, where an edge can connect any number of vertices. Formally, a hypergraph H is a pair H = where X is a set of elements, called nodes or vertices, and E is a set of non-empty subsets of X called hyperedges or links...
s (1970), each being translated in several languages and becoming a classic.
Berge co-founded the French literary group Oulipo
Oulipo
Oulipo is a loose gathering of French-speaking writers and mathematicians which seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques. It was founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais...
with novelists and other mathematicians in 1960 to create new forms of literature.
In this association, he wrote a murder mystery based on a mathematical theorem: Who killed the Duke of Densmore?
He received the EURO X gold medal from the European Association of Operational Research in 1989 and the Euler Prize in 1995.
He was at the Centre d'Analyse et de Mathématique Sociales (CAMS), a research center of École des hautes études en sciences sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
. He was also a visiting professor at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
(1957), New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(1985) and a frequent visitor to the Indian statistical institute
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute is a public research institute and university in Kolkata's northern outskirt of Baranagar, India founded by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in 1931...
, Calcutta.