Béla Bollobás facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Béla Bollobás
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| Born | 3 August 1943 Budapest, Hungary
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| Alma mater | Eötvös Loránd University Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Functional analysis combinatorics Extremal graph theory percolation theory graph polynomials |
| Spouse(s) | Gabriella Bollobás |
| Awards | Senior Whitehead Prize (2007) Bocskai Prize (2015) Széchenyi Prize (2017) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics Random graphs Extremal graph theory |
| Institutions | Eötvös Loránd University University of Cambridge University of Memphis |
| Doctoral advisor | László Fejes Tóth Paul Erdős Frank Adams |
| Doctoral students |
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Béla Bollobás is a famous mathematician born in Hungary in 1943. He later became a British citizen. He has worked on many different areas of Mathematics, like how things are connected (called combinatorics) and how networks work (called graph theory). A very important mathematician named Paul Erdős was a big influence on him from the time he was 14 years old.
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Early Life and Learning
Béla Bollobás was a super talented student. He took part in the first three International Mathematical Olympiads, which are like big math competitions for students from all over the world. He even won two gold medals!
Meeting a Math Legend
After hearing about his wins, the famous mathematician Paul Erdős invited young Béla to lunch. They stayed in touch, and when Béla was still in high school, he and Erdős wrote their first math paper together. It was about solving extreme problems in graph theory.
Studying in Different Countries
With a recommendation from Erdős, Béla got to study for a year at Cambridge University in England. However, the authorities in Hungary made it hard for him to go back to Cambridge for his PhD. He also couldn't accept a scholarship to study in Paris.
So, he earned his first PhD in discrete geometry in Budapest in 1967. His advisors were László Fejes Tóth and Paul Erdős. After that, he spent a year in Moscow. He then went to Oxford University in England.
A New Home in Cambridge
Béla decided he didn't want to return to Hungary because of the difficult political situation there. He then went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned a second PhD in 1972. This time, he studied functional analysis. He became a Fellow of Trinity College in 1970.
His main area of study is combinatorics, especially graph theory. He is very interested in how graphs behave in extreme situations and how random graphs are formed.
His Amazing Career
Béla Bollobás has been a Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, since 1970. In 1996, he also became a special professor at the University of Memphis in the USA. In 2005, he received a senior research fellowship at Trinity College.
What He Studied
Professor Bollobás has discovered many important things in different math fields. For example, he worked with Paul Erdős to understand how dense graphs are built. He was also the first to explain how random graphs change as they grow.
He also worked with other mathematicians on many interesting topics:
- With Imre Leader, he studied how to find the smallest "boundary" for certain shapes.
- With Oliver Riordan, he created a special kind of math tool called the "ribbon polynomial."
- He also studied how things spread through networks, a field called percolation theory. For example, he showed that in a certain type of percolation, the chance of something spreading is exactly 1/2.
Books He Wrote
Besides writing over 350 research papers, Professor Bollobás has written many books. Some of his books are for advanced researchers, like Extremal Graph Theory and Random Graphs. He also wrote books for students, such as Modern Graph Theory and Combinatorics. He even wrote a fun book of math problems called The Art of Mathematics – Coffee Time in Memphis, which has drawings by his wife, Gabriella.
Students He Taught
Many of his students have become successful mathematicians themselves. One of his students, Timothy Gowers, even won the Fields Medal, which is one of the highest awards in mathematics! Other notable students include Keith Ball, Graham Brightwell, and Imre Leader.
Awards and Honors
Béla Bollobás has received many important awards for his work.
- In 2007, he won the Senior Whitehead Prize from the London Mathematical Society.
- In 2011, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. They recognized his huge contributions to many areas of mathematics, especially in combinatorics and random graphs. They also noted how his textbooks helped make Britain a leader in these fields.
- In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
- He was also elected as a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2013 and the Academy of Europea in 2017.
- He received an honorary doctorate from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland in 2013.
- He won the Bocskai Prize in 2016 and the Széchenyi Prize in 2017.
His Personal Life
Béla Bollobás's father was a doctor. His wife, Gabriella Bollobás, was an actress and musician in Hungary. After moving to England, she became a sculptor. She has created amazing busts (sculptures of heads and shoulders) of many famous mathematicians and scientists, including Paul Erdős and Stephen Hawking. They have one son, Mark.
Professor Bollobás is also a very active person! He has represented the University of Oxford in modern pentathlon (a sport with five different events) and the University of Cambridge in fencing.
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Béla Bollobás
