Combinatorialists who weren't in the news

 

Alfred Bray Kempe


Quick Info

Born
6 July 1849
Kensington, London, England
Died
21 April 1922
London, England

Summary
Alfred Kempe published a false "proof" of the four colour theorem in 1879 which stood until Heawood showed the mistake 11 years later. The 'proof' is however still the basis for the computer aided proof discovered 100 years later.

Full story : https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Kempe/

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