How Bill Tutte Won the War (or at least helped to shorten it by two years)

摘要

Many readers of Mathematics Today will be familiar with the work of Professor William 'Bill'Tutte OC FRS FRSC of the University of Waterloo, Ontario, whose pioneering studies in graph and matroid theory led to his preeminence in the field of combinatorics. Fewer will be aware that he was also responsible for 'one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II'.1 History has credited him with shortening the war in Europe by two years, saving the lives of millions, but he never received the public recognition or acclaim that he deserved.2 In fact, it was not until a few years before his death in 2002 that he was able to speak about it, and then only with his usual modesty.