Julius Petersen

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Julius Peter Christian Petersen (June 16, 1839, Sorø on Zealand - August 5, 1910) was a Danish mathematician.

Petrsen's interests in mathematics were manifold (geometry, function theory, number theory, mathematical physics, mathematical economics, cryptography and graph theory). His famous paper <ref name="pet">Petersen, J. (1891). "Die Theorie der regulären graphs". Acta Mathematica 15.</ref> originated the graph theory as we know it today. In 1898, he gives his famous counterexample to Tait's theorem about 1-factorability of 3-regular graphs, the "Petersen Graph".

He published a systematic treatment of geometrical constructions (with straightedge and compass) in 1880. A French translation was reprinted in 1990.

A special issue of Discrete Mathematics has been dedicated to the 150th birthday of Petersen, in which a very precise biography may be found <ref name="bio">Lützen, J.; Sabidussi, G. and Toft, B. (1992). "Julius Petersen 1839–1910 a biography" 100, Issues 1-3: 9–82. DOI:10.1016/0012-365X(92)90636-T.</ref>.